Analysis of Layered Viscoelastic System with Transient Temperatures

A method for quasi-static analysis of a layered viscoelastic system with different loading and temperature histories is presented. First, the response of the system to the unit step load with a constant temperature is obtained from the corresponding elastic solution. The response to a transient load is then obtained through a linear superposition integral using the unit response as the kernel function. The effects of spatially homogeneous, transient temperature on the mechanical response of the system are taken into account through the time-temperature superposition principle. The method is not based on the Laplace transform–based correspondence principle and no transform-inversion process is required. An illustration of the method is presented through an analysis of the stresses and the displacements in a three-layer, elastic-viscoelastic, composite half-space subjected to a distributed surface load and different temperature conditions.