Thermal Linear Expansion
Also known as expansion of a pipe · coefficient of thermal expansion
Enter your known values, leave one input blank, and solves for the missing one. Try different units for next level excitement!
Learning zone
Most solids grow when heated, in proportion to their length, the temperature rise, and a material coefficient α. A 10 m steel beam (α = 12 × 10⁻⁶ per K) heated by 50 K stretches 6 mm — small, but enough that bridges need expansion joints and rail tracks need gaps. ΔT here is a temperature difference, never an absolute reading.
Thermal Linear Expansion
Where
- = Change in length
- = Linear expansion coefficient
- = Original length
- = Temperature change
Missing one of these? Work it out first, then come back
- Change in length — Normal Strain (ε = δ/L), Rectangle Area
- Linear expansion coefficient — Thermal Stress in a Restrained Member, Loop Water Expansion Volume
- Original length — Normal Strain (ε = δ/L), Axial Deformation (δ = PL/AE)
- Temperature change — Sensible Heat (Q = mcΔT), Thermal Stress in a Restrained Member