Numerical Simulation Models for Thermoelastic Damping Effects Finite Element Simulations of dynamically excited structures are mainly influenced by the mass stiffness and damping properties of the system as well as external loads. The prediction quality of dynamic simulations of vibration sensitive components depends significantly on the use of appropriate damping models. Damping phenomena have a decisive influence on the vibration amplitude and the frequencies of the vibrating structure. However developing realistic damping models is challenging due to the multiple sources that cause energy dissipation such as material damping different types of friction or various interactions with the environment. This thesis focuses on thermoelastic damping which is the main cause of material damping in homogeneous materials. The effect is caused by temperature changes due to mechanical strains. In vibrating structures temperature gradients arise in adjacent tension and compression areas. Depending on the vibration frequency they result in heat flows leading to increased entropy and the irreversible transformation of mechanical energy into thermal energy. The central objective of this thesis is the development of efficient simulation methods to incorporate thermoelastic damping in finite element analyses based on modal superposition. The thermoelastic loss factor is derived from the structures mechanical mode shapes and eigenfrequencies. In subsequent analyses that are performed in the time and frequency domain it is applied as modal damping. Two approaches are developed to determine the thermoelastic loss in thin walled plate structures as well as three dimensional solid structures. The realistic representation of the dissipation effects is verified by comparing the simulation results with experimentally determined data. Therefore an experimental setup is developed to measure material damping excluding other sources of energy dissipation. The three dimensional solid approach is based on the determination of the generated entropy and therefore the generated heat per vibration cycle which is a measure for thermoelastic loss in relation to the total strain energy. For thin plate structures the amount of bending energy in a modal deformation is calculated and summarized in the so called Modal Bending Factor (MBF). The highest amount of thermoelastic loss occurs in the state of pure bending. Therefore the MBF enables a quantitative classification of the mode shapes concerning the thermoelastic damping potential. The results of the developed simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results and are appropriate to predict thermoelastic loss factors. Both approaches are based on modal superposition with the advantage of a high computational efficiency. Overall the modeling of thermoelastic damping represents an important component in a comprehensive damping model which is necessary to perform realistic simulations of vibration processes.