Thermal Stress
thermal stress
[′thər·məl ′stres]Thermal stress
Thermal Stress
(Russian, temperaturnoe napriazhenie), a stress produced in a body as a result of a nonuniform distribution of temperature in different parts of the body and some restriction on the possibility of thermal expansion or contraction imposed by adjacent parts of the body or by other bodies surrounding the body in question. An example of thermal stresses is the tensile stresses produced in a wire stretched between fixed supports as the wire is cooled. Thermal stresses can cause the failure of machine components, buildings, and structural members. Expansion joints and other means, including gaps between successive lengths of rails, gaps between the blocks of a dam, and rollers on bridge supports, are used to prevent such failures.