Transient Thermal Conduction Example

Transient Thermal Conduction Example
Introduction
This tutorial was created using ANSYS to solve a simple transient conduction problem. The example is
constrained as shown in the following figure. Thermal conductivity (k) of the material is 5 W/m*K and the
block is assumed to be infinitely long. Also, the density of the material is 920 kg/m^3 and the specific heat
capacity (c) is 2.040 kJ/kg*K.
Preprocessing: Defining the Problem

Give example a Title
Utility Menu > File > Change Title... /Title, Transient Thermal Conduction
Open preprocessor menu
ANSYS Main Menu > Preprocessor /PREP7
Create geometry
Preprocessor > Modeling > Create > Areas > Rectangle > By 2 Corners X=0, Y=0, Width=1, Height=1
BLC4,0,0,1,1
Define the Type of Element
Preprocessor > Element Type > Add/Edit/Delete... > click 'Add' > Select Thermal Mass Solid, Quad 4Node
55 ET, 1, PLANE55
For this example, we will use PLANE55 (Thermal Solid, Quad 4node 55). This element has 4 nodes and a
single DOF (temperature) at each node. PLANE55 can only be used for 2 dimensional steady-state or
transient thermal analysis.
Element Material Properties
Preprocessor > Material Props > Material Models > Thermal > Conductivity > Isotropic > KXX = 5
(Thermal conductivity)
MP,KXX,1,10
Preprocessor > Material Props > Material Models > Thermal > Specific Heat > C = 2.04
MP,C,1,2.04
Preprocessor > Material Props > Material Models > Thermal > Density > DENS = 920
MP,DENS,1,920
Mesh Size
Preprocessor > Meshing > Size Cntrls > ManualSize > Areas > All Areas > 0.05
AESIZE,ALL,0.05
Mesh
Preprocessor > Meshing > Mesh > Areas > Free > Pick All
AMESH,ALL
At this point, the model should look like the following:
Solution Phase: Assigning Loads and Solving
Define Analysis Type
Solution > Analysis Type > New Analysis > Transient
ANTYPE,4
The window shown below will pop up. We will use the defaults, so click OK.
Set Solution Controls

Solution > Analysis Type > Sol'n Controls
The following window will pop up.
A) Set Time at end of load step to 300 and Automatic time stepping to ON.
B) Set Number of sub steps to 20, Max no. of sub steps to 100, Min no. of sub steps to 20.
C) Set the Frequency to write every sub step.
Click on the Non Linear tab at the top and fill it in as shown
D) Set Line search to ON.
E) Set the Maximum number of iterations to 100.
For a complete description of what these options do, refer to the help file. Basically, the time at the end of
the load step is how long the transient analysis will run and the number of sub steps defines how the load is
broken up. By writing the data at every step, you can create animations over time and the other options help
the problem converge quickly.
Apply Constraints
For thermal problems, constraints can be in the form of Temperature, Heat Flow, Convection, Heat Flux,
Heat Generation, or Radiation. In this example, 2 sides of the block have fixed temperatures and the other
two are insulated.
o Solution > Define Loads > Apply
Note that all of the -Structural- options cannot be selected. This is due to the type of element
(PLANE55) selected.
o Thermal > Temperature > On Nodes
o Click the Box option (shown below) and draw a box around the nodes on the top line and then click
OK.
The following window will appear:

o Fill the window in as shown to constrain the top to a constant temperature of 500 K
o Using the same method, constrain the bottom line to a constant value of 100 K
Orange triangles in the graphics window indicate the temperature constraints.
Apply Initial Conditions
Solution > Define Loads > Apply > Initial Condit'n > Define > Pick All
Fill in the IC window as follows to set the initial temperature of the material to 100 K:
Solve the System

Solution > Solve > Current LS
SOLVE
Post processing: Viewing the Results
1. Results Using ANSYS
Plot Temperature
General Postproc > Plot Results > Contour Plot > Nodal Solu ... > DOF solution,
Temperature TEMP
Animate Results over Time

First, specify the contour range.
Utility Menu > Plot Ctrls > Style > Contours > Uniform Contours...
Fill in the window as shown, with 8 contours, user specified, from 100 to 500.
o Then animate the data.
Utility Menu > PlotCtrls > Animate > Over Time...
Fill in the following window as shown (20 frames, 0 - 300 Time Range, Auto contour
scaling OFF, DOF solution > TEMP)
You can see how the temperature rises over the area over time. The heat flows from the higher
temperature to the lower temperature constraints as expected. Also, you can see how it reaches
equilibrium when the time reaches approximately 200 seconds. Shown below are analytical and
ANSYS generated temperature vs time curves for the center of the block. As can be seen, the curves
are practically identical, thus the validity of the ANSYS simulation has been proven.
Analytical Solution
ANSYS Generated Solution
Time History Post processing: Viewing the Results
1. Creating the Temperature vs. Time Graph
o Select: Main Menu > TimeHist Postpro. The following window should open automatically.
If it does not open automatically, select Main Menu > TimeHist Postpro > Variable
Viewer
o Click the add button in the upper left corner of the window to add a variable.
o Select Nodal Solution > DOF Solution > Temperature (as shown below) and click OK.
Pick the center node on the mesh, node 261, and click OK in the 'Node for Data' window.
o The Time History Variables window should now look like this:
2. Graph Results over Time

o Ensure TEMP_2 in the Time History Variables window is highlighted.
o Click the graphing button in the Time History Variables window.

o The labels on the plot are not updated by ANSYS, so you must change them manually. Select
Utility Menu > Plot Ctrls > Style > Graphs > Modify Axes and re-label the X and Y-axis
appropriately.
Note how this plot does not exactly match the plot shown above. This is because the solution
has not completely converged. To cause the solution to converge, one of two things can be
done: decrease the mesh size or increase the number of sub steps used in the transient
analysis. From experience, reducing the mesh size will do little in this case, as the mesh is
adequate to capture the response. Instead, increasing the number of sub steps from say 20 to
300, will cause the solution to converge. This will greatly increase the computational time
required though, which is why only 20 sub steps are used in this tutorial. Twenty sub steps
gives an adequate and quick approximation of the solution.

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Transient Thermal Conduction Example

Preprocessing: Defining the Problem

Set Solution Controls

The following window will appear:

Solve the System

Animate Results over Time

2. Graph Results over Time

o Click the graphing button in the Time History Variables window.

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