DOI: 10.4018/IJMMME.2020100103 International Journal of Manufacturing, Materials, and Mechanical Engineering Volume 10 • Issue 4 • October-December 2020  Copyright©2020,IGIGlobal.CopyingordistributinginprintorelectronicformswithoutwrittenpermissionofIGIGlobalisprohibited.  25 The Effect of Insulated Cracks on Heat Transfer of Thermoelectric Plates Using Peridynamics Migbar Assefa Zeleke, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana & Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3089-4944 Lai Xin, Wuhan University of Technology, China https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6008-1792 Liu Lisheng, Wuhan University of Technology, China ABSTRACT Inthisarticle,peridynamic(PD)theoryisappliedtoanalyzetwo-dimensionalheatconductionof thermoelectricplatewithdiscontinuities.Itisawell-knownfactthatheatfluxisundefinedatthe cracktipandcausesthetemperaturefieldacrossthecracksurfacediscontinuous.Hence,numerical procedures like finite element method (FEM) became unsuccessful to capture details of moving discontinuitieslikegrowingcracks.Therefore,thisarticleproposesaPDtheorythatisappropriate inresolvingmovingdiscontinuitiesinthermalandelectricfields.ThePDequationswereconstructed by writing the continuum-based electrical potentials and temperature fields in the form of their respectivenon-localintegralsthatareremarkablypowerfulinsolvingcontinuumproblemswhether theauthorshavemovingdiscontinuitiesornot.ToelucidatethetrustworthinessofthePDtheory, theresultsinthecaseofstationarycracksarecomparedwiththeonefromFEMandwitnessedthat theywereingoodagreement. KEywoRdS Adiabatic Crack, Finite Element Method, Heat Conduction, Insulated Crack, Isothermal Crack, Moving Cracks, Peridynamic Theory, Thermoelectric Materials INTRodUCTIoN Nowadays,thegreatmajorityoftheenergyreleasedfromanysectorlostintheformofheattothe environment.Hence,itisimportanttoimprovetheoverallefficiencyandreduceCO2emissions throughthermoelectricconvertors.Thermoelectricconvertorsaresolidstatedevicesthatcanconvert wasteheatintoelectricityandviceversa.Thermoelectricconvertorsexpectedtooperateinplaces where extremely high temperature difference exist. This temperature difference leads the device to expand and contract periodically. Such cyclic thermal load creates cracks at the interface that