Thermal

Abstract

One of the more important environmental influences on a vehicle is the thermal environment. Combinations of air temperature, solar radiation, and sky radiation can cause various structural problems. Some example of potential problems are: (1) Heating of one side of the vehicle by the sun while the other side is cooled by a clear sky causes stresses since the vehicle sides will be of different length; (2) the temperature of the fuel influences the volume/mass relationship; and (3) too high a temperature may destroy the usefulness of a lubricant. The heating or cooling of a surface by air temperature and radiation is a function of the heat transfers taking place; therefore, methods of determining these relationships are presented.