Thermal Stress Calculator

Thermal Stress Calculator

What happens when a material heats up but physically cannot expand? Instead of changing dimensions, it develops internal stress - this calculator computes exactly how much.

Thermal Stress = Elastic Modulus × Coefficient of Expansion × |Temperature Change|

Example

A fully constrained steel member (E = 200 GPa, coefficient ~1.17├ù10Ôü╗ÔüÁ per ┬░C) heated by 50┬░C:

Thermal Stress ≈ 117.0 MPa

Constrained vs. Unconstrained Expansion

Unconstrained thermal expansion simply changes an object's dimensions without generating any internal stress - a rigidly constrained member instead converts that same expansion tendency directly into internal mechanical stress, since the material physically cannot change size to relieve it.

Why This Can Be Dangerous

This is exactly why expansion joints exist in bridges, pipelines, and railway tracks - without them, ordinary seasonal temperature swings could generate stress levels large enough to buckle or fracture rigidly constrained structures, since thermal stress can easily exceed a material's yield strength if temperature swings are large enough and no expansion relief is provided.