What Is Thermal Analysis in SOLIDWORKS and How Does It Work?

In the previous blog the basics of heat transfer has been discussed in detail, here the workflow of thermal analysis in SOLIDWORKS simulation will be detailed.

There are homogeneous & Non- Homogeneous heat transfer occurs in the thermal analysis so in SOLIDWORKS Simulation the homogeneous heat transfer is discussed in static analysis & the other one is discussed in advance thermal study.

Homogeneous Heat Transfer:-

In Homogeneous heat transfer the temperature can be applied on the face of the part directly (or) all the exposed faces to the heat.

In Simulation study tree under external loads one can able to find the temperature parameter as shown in Fig.1, Here the temperature can be applied directly in terms of Celsius/kelvin/Fahrenheit.

The material elasticity is also taken into consideration if needed, since the modulus of elasticity changes with temperature. One can able to import (.csv) file of Temperature (VS) modulus of elasticity. The fig.2 shows the imported data stored in the material library.

Fig: 1 Temperature as Load

Fig: 2 Temperature VS Modulus of Elasticity 

Fig: 3 Temperature applied to the entire Model

Non-Homogeneous Heat Transfer:-

In Non-Homogeneous heat transfer all the different types of heat transfer phenomenon can be simulated in Advance simulation Thermal Study as shown in fig.4 

To create a new thermal study in the advance simulation type the user needs SOLIDWORKS Simulation professional license. 

When a new thermal study is created, in simulation study tree instead of external loads, a new tab called Thermal loads will be created in this study. This study predominantly takes care of temperature load as a loading parameter as shown in the Fig.5. 

Fig: 4 Thermal Study 

Fig: 5 Temperature loads

Here in the image the thermal loading conditions such as temperature, convection, Radiation, Heat flux & Heat power can be used. The conduction parameter is automatically taken into account based on the interaction used in the study. The interaction majorly used in the thermal study are bonded & insulated as shown in Fig.6. If the interaction type is considered as bonded the heat transfer through conduction takes place automatically. 

The user needs to work on the other type of parameter like convection & radiation for the heat transfer condition. 

Fig: 6 Interactions  

Fig: 7 Heat transfer through Convection 

Fig: 8 Heat transfer through Radiation

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