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he gradient weighted finite element method (GW-FEM) is formulated for analysis of thermo-elastic problems. In this method, the problem domain is discretized using low-order elements such as linear triangular or tetrahedral elements. For each independent element, a supporting domain that consists of element itself and its adjacent elements sharing common edges/faces is constructed. Based on the Shepard interpolation, weighted temperature gradients and weighted strains are then obtained, which will be considered to the generalized Galerkin weak form to form the discretized system equations. Compared with the standard FEM, the main difference of present method is just a reconstruction of temperature gradients or strains through gradient weighted operation. Owning to the gradient weighted operation, the GW-FEM can well soft the “overly-stiff” FEM model, resulting a “close-to -exact” stiffness. Thus, when using present GW-FEM, the computed thermal displacement and thermal stress are much more accurate compared with the FEM.