Heat Transfer

Solve conduction-dominant heat transfer problems with convection and radiation occurring at boundaries

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.

The heat transfer equation is a parabolic partial differential equation that describes the distribution of temperature in a particular region over given time:

$ρ c \frac{\partial T}{\partial t} - \nabla \cdot (k \nabla T) = Q$

一个典型的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 conductivityk, specific heatc, and mass densityρ.
Specify internal heat sourcesQwithin the geometry.
Specify temperatures on the boundaries or heat fluxes through the boundaries. For convective heat flux through the boundary $h t c (T - T_{\infty})$ , specify the ambient temperature $T_{\infty}$ and the convective heat transfer coefficienthtc. For radiative heat flux $ε σ (T^{4} - T_{\infty}^{4})$ , specify the ambient temperature $T_{\infty}$ , emissivityε, and Stefan-Boltzmann constantσ.
Set an initial temperature or initial guess.
Solve and plot results, such as the resulting temperatures, temperature gradients, heat fluxes, and heat rates.

Functions

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Thermal Model Setup

`createpde`	Create model
`thermalProperties`	Assign thermal properties of a material for a thermal model
`internalHeatSource`	Specify internal heat source for a thermal model
`thermalBC`	Specify boundary conditions for a thermal model
`thermalIC`	Set initial conditions or initial guess for a thermal model
`solve`	Solve heat transfer, structural analysis, or electromagnetic analysis problem
`assembleFEMatrices`	Assemble finite element matrices
`linearize`	Linearize structural or thermal model
`linearizeInput`	Specify inputs to linearized model
`linearizeOutput`	Specify outputs of linearized model

Solutions at Nodal and Custom Locations

`interpolateTemperature`	Interpolate temperature in a thermal result at arbitrary spatial locations
`evaluateTemperatureGradient`	Evaluate temperature gradient of a thermal solution at arbitrary spatial locations
`evaluateHeatFlux`	Evaluate heat flux of a thermal solution at nodal or arbitrary spatial locations
`evaluateHeatRate`	Evaluate integrated heat flow rate normal to specified boundary

Visualization

`pdeplot`	Plot solution or mesh for 2-D problem
`pdeplot3D`	Plot solution or surface mesh for 3-D problem
`pdegplot`	Plot PDE geometry
`pdemesh`	情节PDE网
`pdeviz`	Create and plot PDE visualization object

Thermal Model Properties

`findThermalProperties`	Find thermal material properties assigned to a geometric region
`findHeatSource`	Find heat source assigned to a geometric region
`findThermalBC`	Find thermal boundary conditions assigned to a geometric region
`findThermalIC`	Find thermal initial conditions assigned to a geometric region

Objects

`ThermalModel`	Thermal model object
`SteadyStateThermalResults`	Steady-state thermal solution and derived quantities
`TransientThermalResults`	Transient thermal solution and derived quantities

Properties

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
PDEVisualization Properties	PDE visualization of mesh and nodal results

Topics

Thermal Analysis Workflow

Heat Transfer in Block with Cavity

Solve a heat equation that describes heat diffusion in a block with a rectangular cavity.

Temperature Distribution in Heat Sink

Perform a 3-D transient heat transfer analysis of a heat sink.

Heat Distribution in Circular Cylindrical Rod

分析三维轴对称模型通过使用一个2 ddel.

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.

Thermal Analysis of Disc Brake

Use Partial Differential Equation Toolbox™ andSimscape™ Driveline™to simulate a brake pad moving around a disc and analyze temperatures when braking.

Axisymmetric Thermal and Structural Analysis of Disc Brake

Simplify analysis of a disc brake by using an axisymmetric model for thermal and thermal stress computations.