Conduction and convection analyses of flexible electronic devices via coupled thermo-elastic formulation and variable-fidelity beam models

This work presents one-dimensional (1D) beam kinematic models with variable fidelity for analyzing coupled thermo-elastic problems in components of electronic interest. By employing the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF), the proposed methodology enables accurate predictions of displacements, stresses, and temperature distributions in homogeneous isotropic structures subjected to complex heat sources. Transforming the complex three-dimensional (3D) problem into a computationally efficient one-dimensional (1D) framework allows for an optimal balance between accuracy and low computational cost. Classical thermo-elasticity theories are adopted to describe the physical behavior, and the formulation is applied to various flexible electronic components to demonstrate its versatility. Several numerical simulations, including convergence studies and validation against full 3D solid models, confirm the reliability and accuracy of the proposed technique. The results highlight the method’s strong potential for guiding and accelerating the design and fabrication of next-generation flexible electronic devices (FEDs) in advanced engineering applications.