Defining Heat Flux

To define Heat Flux:

  1. Do one of the following:
    • In the Simulation study tree, right-click Thermal Loads and select Heat Flux .
    • Click Simulation > Loads/Fixture > Heat Flux.
    • Click Heat Flux (Simulation toolbar).
    The Heat Flux PropertyManager appears.
  2. Under Selected Entities, select faces. For models with beams or trusses, select Beams .
    To select all faces exposed to outside at once, click Select all exposed faces. To delete a face, right-click the face and select Delete.
  3. Under Heat Flux, do the following:
    1. Set Units to the required unit system.
    2. Enter a value for the Heat Flux in the selected unit system.
    3. To define a time-dependent heat flux, click Use Time Curve then click Edit to import or define a time curve. The value of the heat flux at any time instant is calculated by multiplying the specified heat flux value by the corresponding Y value of the time curve. This option is available for transient thermal studies only.
    4. To define a temperature-dependent heat flux, click Use Temperature Curve then click Edit to import or define a temperature curve. The value of the heat flux at a given temperature is calculated by multiplying the specified heat flux value by the corresponding Y value of the temperature curve.
  4. To control the heat flux condition by a thermostat, do the following:
    1. Click Thermostat (Transient).
    2. Select a vertex for the location of the thermostat.
      Make sure to first click in the Sensor (select a vertex) box before selecting a vertex for the sensor. Otherwise, the selected vertex appears in the Selected entities box.
    3. Select the unit for the Lower bound temperature and enter the required value in the value box.
    4. Select the unit for the Upper bound temperature and enter the required value in the value box.
  5. Click .
  • If you have multiple studies, you can drag the loads from one study to another. You can also drag the whole Thermal Loads folder.
  • You can modify the default names of the load icons. This helps you keep track of the different loads applied to the model.
  • You have an option to hide or show the individual loads. In the Simulation study tree, right-click the respective load icon and then click Hide/Show.
  • To change the color of the heat flux symbol, click Color in the Heat Flux PropertyManager. The color palette opens. Select another color and click OK.
  • Selected entities box lists the number of faces to which the software applies the specified heat flux.