Thermoelastic waves in microstructured solids: Dual internal variables approach

A coupled system of thermoelasticity equations including an evolution equation for an internal variable in addition to the traditional equations of motion and heat conduction is solved numerically. The internal variable is interpreted as a microtemperature or, in other words, as a temperature fluctuation due to the microstructure. The results of computation show that besides the usual diffusion of the macrotemperature in course of time, the wave-type behavior of temperature is observed because of coupling effects between microtemperature, stress, and macrotemperature. Although the observed effect of the microstructure is small, it exists in the case of realistic values of material parameters. The formulated model includes coupling parameters in addition to material properties. The ranges of these parameters are established for the prescribed materials and their influence on the wave-like temperature behavior is analyzed.