Heat Transfer physics work together with solid materials. This is where you configure and define how solid materials will behave in your simulation. Use heat transfer physics for conjugate heat transfer (CHT) simulations.

Heat Sources

Heat sources are used to simulate energy generation or energy sinks within a volume. You can specify heat sources by Power (W) or Power per unit volume (W/m3), then select which volumes to apply these settings to.

To create new heat sources, expand Heat Transfer physics in the control panel, then click the + icon next to Heat Sources.

Tabulated Heat Profiles

Transient Simulations

For transient simulations that require a temporal heat source or temporal heat flux boundary condition, you can upload a tabulated profile in CSV format . For a heat source, you can upload your heat source in Power (W) or Power per unit volume (W/m3). For a heat flux it will be in Power (W) or Power per unit area (W/m2).

Make sure your file is formatted as follows:

A header row isn’t required, but recommended. If you are using a header row, it can contain any text.
The first column must be Time (s). This column can't have missing entries.
Subsequent columns should contain heat power or heat flux in the units mentioned above.. There must be at least 2 columns total. These can have missing entries.

Select the heat source or heat flux boundary condition in the control panel.
In the properties panel, toggle the Tabulated Profile option on.
Click Upload File and select your CSV from the file browser.
Click Save.
Profile Type will be automatically set to Time.
Click in the Heat Source Power box and choose a column from the list.

Steady Simulations

For steady simulations, you can upload a spatially varying heat flux boundary condition. You can create a heat flux boundary condition and toggle the "Tabulated Profile" switch. Please upload a csv file, the first entry in the first column must be empty. All other entries in the first row correspond to x-coordinates. All other entries in the first column correspond to y-coordinates. The rest of the values in the csv are heat flux in Power per unit area (W/m2 if in SI units). After the csv is uploaded, you will be able to view the csv values in the application to confirm you have uploaded the correct file.

Please note that the spatially varying boundary condition will be applied in the frame associated with the surface of that boundary condition. To apply a spatially boundary condition along X and Y directions not aligned with the global frame, please create your own frame and attach the relevant surfaces.

Advanced Solver Settings

This is where you can adjust Spatial Discretization and Solution Controls settings.

Spatial Discretization

Define the schemes for handling spatial gradients and convective terms. This setting controls the accuracy of your simulation, noting that options for higher accuracy may lead to solution stability problems. There are three preset selections of settings that you can choose from:

Default provides a balance between robustness and accuracy.
Conservative is the most robust option for your toughest meshes and problems. If necessary, it will sacrifice solution accuracy for robustness.
High Accuracy attempts to be as accurate as possible and avoids most artificial dissipation, which may lead to stability issues.

Solution Controls

This section controls how quickly your simulation will converge, noting that the quicker the desired convergence, the more unstable the process can be.

There are three preset selections of settings that you can choose from:

Default (Conservative) uses settings that emphasize robustness.
Intermediate Performance provides a balance between speed and robustness.
Aggressive Performance uses settings biased towards speed.

As you move up from the default preset to the aggressive preset, the robustness of the solution method will decrease, but the potential time to a converged solution will also decrease.