Thermal center
![Picture of the thermal center.](/Images/godic/202502/16/Thermal_center_a1829.jpg")
![Picture A: geometric construction of the thermal center: under the mentioned hypothesis, thermal center position is only function of the constraints.
Picture B: This is an example of thermal center not defined, since the geometrical construction leads to different points for different expansions.](/Images/godic/202502/16/Thermal_center_b1829.jpg")
The thermal center is a concept used in applied mechanics and engineering. When a solid body is exposed to a thermal variation, an expansion will occur, changing the dimensions and potentially the shape of the body and the position of its points. Under certain circumstances it may happen that one point belonging to the space associated to the body has no displacement at all: this point is called the thermal center (TC).