Thermal stress analysis of current-carrying media containing an inclusion with arbitrarily-given shape

Abstract The presence of inclusions in metal-based composites subjected to an electric current or a heat flux induces thermal stresses. Inclusion geometry is one of the important parameters in the stress distribution. In this study, the plane problem of an arbitrarily-shaped inclusion embedded in an infinite conductive medium is investigated based on the complex variable method. The shape of the inclusion is defined approximately by a polynomial conformal mapping function. Faber series and Fourier expansion techniques are used to solve the corresponding boundary value problems. The obtained results show that the shape, bluntness and rotation angle of the inclusion have a significant effect on the stress concentration around the inclusion induced by the far-field electric current. In addition, for the considered inclusion-matrix system under given electric loading, a lower amount of the Von Mises stress concentration than that around a circular inclusion could be achieved by appropriate selection of the inclusion shape and orientation.