Thermal Analysis
File: File:PVE-4437, Last Updated: Aug 23 2010, By: BTV
Transient and Steady State Analyses
Heat entering a part in a mold cavity
Thermal analyses are used to study thermal loadings and their resulting temperatures, heat transfer rates, displacements and stresses. These analyses are broken into two main types, steady state and transient. Steady state analysis will determine the energy balanced state at an infinite period in time without any detail on what happens while progressing to this point. Transient thermal analysis is able to analyze the heat flow through a body on a step by step basis allowing temperature effects to be observed over time.
Steady State Analysis
Steady state analysis is used to observe the effects of thermal loadings once the object in question has reached a constant, or steady state. This is useful to determine sustained temperatures, heat transfer rates, displacements and stresses. Steady state analysis is also useful to determine thermal loads and material properties to obtain a final desired result. As a steady state analysis only provides a final continuous result it only requires a single computation making it a very efficient solver.
Transient Analysis
Temperature vs time for various locations in the cavity
A transient analysis is used to observe the effects of thermal loadings over time. It allows the user to view the changing temperature gradient through a component from initial though to a steady state condition. Transient thermal impacts are important to analyze as thermal loadings may result in peak stresses prior to reaching a steady state. It is also useful to answer questions such as how long will a component take to reach a desired temperature. As a transient analysis provides solutions for a defined number of time steps many computations are required resulting in a much more complex analysis.