Address challenges with thermal management by analyzing the temperature distributions of components based on material properties, external heat sources, and internal heat generation for steady-state and transient problems.
A typical programmatic workflow for solving a heat transfer problem includes the following steps:
Create a special thermal model container for a steady-state or transient thermal model.
Define 2-D or 3-D geometry and mesh it.
Assign thermal properties of the material, such as thermal conductivity k, specific heat c, and mass density ρ.
Specify internal heat sources Q within the geometry.
Specify temperatures on the boundaries or heat fluxes through the boundaries. For convective heat flux through the boundary , specify the ambient temperature and the convective heat transfer coefficient htc. For radiative heat flux , specify the ambient temperature , emissivity ε, and Stefan-Boltzmann constant σ.
Set an initial temperature or initial guess.
Solve and plot results, such as the resulting temperatures, temperature gradients, heat fluxes, and heat rates.
ThermalModel | Thermal model object |
SteadyStateThermalResults | Steady-state thermal solution and derived quantities |
TransientThermalResults | Transient thermal solution and derived quantities |
ThermalMaterialAssignment Properties | Thermal material properties assignments |
HeatSourceAssignment Properties | Heat source assignments |
ThermalBC Properties | Boundary condition for thermal model |
NodalThermalICs Properties | Initial temperature at mesh nodes |
GeometricThermalICs Properties | Initial temperature over a region or region boundary |
PDESolverOptions Properties | Algorithm options for solvers |
Heat Transfer in Block with Cavity
Solve a heat equation that describes heat diffusion in a block with a rectangular cavity.
Heat Distribution in Circular Cylindrical Rod
Analyze a 3-D axisymmetric model by using a 2-D model.
Heat Conduction in Multidomain Geometry with Nonuniform Heat Flux
Perform a 3-D transient heat conduction analysis of a hollow sphere made of three different layers of material, subject to a nonuniform external heat flux.
Inhomogeneous Heat Equation on Square Domain
Solve the heat equation with a source term.
Heat Transfer Problem with Temperature-Dependent Properties
Solve the heat equation with a temperature-dependent thermal conductivity.
Nonlinear Heat Transfer in Thin Plate
Perform a heat transfer analysis of a thin plate.