Thermoelastic waves in helical strands with Maxwell–Cattaneo heat conduction

Harmonic thermoelastic waves in helical strands with Maxwell–Cattaneo heat conduction areinvestigated analytically and numerically. The corresponding dispersion relation is a sixth-orderalgebraic equation, governed by six non-dimensional parameters: two thermoelastic couplingconstants, one chirality parameter, the ratio between extensional and torsional moduli, the Fouriernumber, and the dimensionless thermal relaxation. The behavior of the solutions is discussedfrom two perspectives with an asymptotic-numerical approach: (1) the effect of thermal relaxationon the elastic wave celerities, and (2) the effect of thermoelastic coupling on the thermal wavecelerities. With small wavenumbers, the adiabatic solution for Fourier helical strands is recovered.However, with large wavenumbers, the solutions behave differently depending on the thermalrelaxation and chirality. Due to thermoelastic coupling, the thermal wave celerity deviates from theclassical result of the speed of second sound.