Application of finite element-finite difference method to the determination of transient temperature field in functionally graded materials

A finite element/finite difference method (FEM/FDM) is developed to solve the time-dependent temperature field in non-homogeneous materials such as functionally graded materials. The method uses the finite element space discretization to obtain a first-order system of differential equations, which is solved by employing finite difference scheme to resolve the time-dependent response. A computation code is developed in the programming environment MATLAB. Temperature-dependent material properties are taken into account in the program.