HITCAN for Actively Cooled Hot-Composite Thermostructural Analysis

A computer code, HITCAN (High Temperature Composite Analyzer) has been developed to analyze/design hot metal matrix composite structures. HITCAN is a general purpose code for predicting the global structural and local stress-strain response of multilayered (arbitrarily oriented) metal matrix structures both at the constituent (fiber, matrix, and interphase) and the structure level and including the fabrication process effects. The thermomechanical properties of the constituents are considered to be nonlinearly dependent on several parameters, including temperature, stress, and stress rate. The computational procedure employs an incremental iterative nonlinear approach utilizing a multifactor-interaction material behavior model, i.e., the material properties are expressed in terms of a product of several factors that affect the properties. HITCAN structural analysis capabilities (static, load stepping—a multistep static analysis with material properties updated at each step, modal, and buckling) for cooled hot structures are demonstrated through a specific example problem.