Editorial: Thermal Stresses

Thermomechanical properties of materials have significant influences on the normal operation and service life of devices and structures. It is therefore of crucial importance to analyze their thermomechanical responses in numerous application areas such as mechanical engineering, civil engineering, electronic technology, and machine manufacturing. Demands on thermomechanical analyses or thermal stress analysis of materials and structures subject to various thermal loads are growing with the expanding of novel materials (e.g., graphene, phononic crystals), new technologies (e.g., three-dimensional printing,transfer printing), and new devices (e.g., flexible electronics,stretchable electronics). In the last few decades, thermal stress analyses have attracted much attention from academia and industry with not only Journal of Thermal Stresses for publishing novel and cutting edge researches, but also series of International Congress on Thermal Stresses to exchange ideas and extend further collaborations for scientists and engineers who are involved in the field of thermal stresses.

This special issue consists of seven research papers written by experts in thermal stresses from China, Japan, Armenia, USA,and Poland [1-7]. Readers can find various categories related to thermal stresses including static/transient thermal stress analysis, thermoelastic stability, thermoelastic wave, and thermal analysis. More details about the above categories are (1) static thermal stress analysis: one article analyzed the stresses of orthotropic laminated beams under thermomechanical loads and the other performed thermomechanical analysis of annular plates of functionally graded materials; (2) transient thermal stress analysis: one article focused on the transient thermal response of functionally graded piezoelectric laminates with infinite row of parallel cracks normal to the bimaterials interface and the other focused on the stochastic transient analysis of solids;(3) thermoelastic stability: one article studied the thermoelastic stability of closed cylindrical shell in supersonic gas flow; (4)thermoelastic wave: one article studied the thermoelastic waves in helical strands of functionally graded materials; (5) thermal analysis: one article studied the temperature evolution in the railway brake disc experimentally. These research papers enable readers to gain basic understandings and insights into the field of thermal stresses. We would like to thank all the authors for contributing their research works to this special issue.

Jizhou Songis a Professor in the Department of Engineering Mechanics at Zhejiang University. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007.He worked as an Assistant Professor at University of Miami before joining Zhejiang University in 2013. His research interests include mechanics of stretchable structures and mechanics of transfer printing with applications in flexible and stretchable electronics. He serves as the associate editor of Journal of Applied Mechanics, the editorial member of Theoretical & Applied Mechanics Letters, International Journal of Applied Mechanics, and NPJ Flexible Electronics.

Weiqiu Chenis a Professor in the Department of Engineering Mechanics at Zhejiang University. He received his BS and Ph.D. degrees from Zhejiang University in 1990 and 1996, respectively. He worked as a postdoctoral research associate at The University of Tokyo (1997-1999).He was promoted as an associate professor in 1999 and a full professor in 2000. He has engaged himself in mechanics of smart materials/structures and vibration/waves in structures for over twenty years. He has co-authored over 350 peer-reviewed journal articles and three English books. He serves as the editorial member (or associate editor) of 15 academic journals including Theoretical & Applied Mechanics Letters, Journal of Thermal Stresses, Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences,and Applied Mathematics and Mechanics (English Edition).