This paper proposes a numerical method for evaluation of thermoelastic displacements, stresses and strains in a rotating disk subjected to thermal load. The solutions are obtained under plane stress assumption and up to the elastic limit of the material by using minimization of total potential energy principle. The solution algorithm is implemented with the help of MATLAB computational simulation software. The analysis is carried out for various disk geometries and temperature distribution profiles. The effect of temperature field on both density and elasticity modulus is investigated and some numerical results are presented graphically and discussed in the form of limit peripheral speed under thermo-mechanical loading and reported in dimensional form. The analysis of the numerical results reveals that the thermoelastic field in a rotating disk is significantly influenced by temperature distribution profile, thickness of the disk, angular speed of the disk, and the inner and outer surface temperature difference and optimal design is obtained by controlling these parameters.

Keywords: Rotating disks, Variational method, Thermo-elastic stresses.