Introduction to Heat Transfer Module

VERSION 4.2a

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Introduction to the Heat Transfer Module 19982011 COMSOL

Protected by U.S. Patents 7,519,518; 7,596,474; and 7,623,991. Patents pending. This Documentation and the Programs described herein are furnished under the COMSOL Software License Agreement (www.comsol.com/sla) and may be used or copied only under the terms of the license agreement. COMSOL, COMSOL Desktop, COMSOL Multiphysics, and LiveLink are registered trademarks or trademarks of COMSOL AB. Other product or brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Version: Part No. CM020804 October 2011 COMSOL 4.2a

Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Introduction
The Heat Transfer Module is used by product designers, developers, and scientists, who use detailed geometrical descriptions to study the influence of heating and cooling in devices or processes. It contains modeling tools for the simulation of all mechanisms of heat transfer including conduction, advection, and radiation. Simulations can be run for transient and steady conditions in 1D, 1D axisymmetric, 2D, 2D axisymmetric, and 3D space coordinate systems. The high level detail provided by these simulations allows for the optimization of design and operational conditions in devices and processes influenced by heat transfer.

Temperature and flow field in an aluminum heat sink and in cooling air that is pumped over the heat sink. The temperature and flow field are solved using detailed geometry and a description of the physics.

The Heat Transfer Modules Model Library is a resource with examples of the heat transfer interfaces and the many available features. The Model Library has educational tutorials as well as industrial equipment and device benchmark models for verification and validation. This introduction fine tunes your COMSOL model building skills for heat transfer simulations. The model tutorial solves a conjugate heat transfer problem from the field of electronic cooling but the principles can be applied to any other field involving heat transfer in solids and fluids.
Introduction

|5

Basic Concepts Described in The Heat Transfer Module Heat is one form of energy that, similar to work, is in transit from inside a system or from one system to another. This energy may be stored as kinetic or potential energy in the atoms and molecules in a system. Conduction is the form of heat transfer that can be described as propor tional to the temperature gradients in a system. This is formulated mathematically by Fouriers law. The Heat Transfer Module describes conduction in systems with constant thermal conductivity and is systems where thermal conductivity is a function of temperature itself or of any other model variable, for example chemical composition. In the case of a moving fluid, the energy transpor ted by the fluid has to be modeled in combination with fluid flow. This is referred to as advection of heat and has to be accounted for in forced and free convection (conduction and advection). The Heat Transfer Module include descriptions for heat transfer in fluids and conjugate heat transfer (heat transfer in solids and fluids in the one system) for both laminar and turbulent flows. In the case of turbulent flow the module offers high-Reynolds or, alternatively, low-Reynolds models to accurately describe conjugate heat transfer.

Heat transfer in a system containing a solid and a fluid (conjugate heat transfer). In the fluid, heat transfer may take place through conduction and advection, while conduction is the main heat transfer mechanism in solids. Heat transfer by radiation can occur between surfaces in a model.

6 | Introduction

Radiation is the third mechanism for heat transfer included in the module. It is modeled using expressions for surface-to-ambient radiation, for example by defining boundary conditions, and also by using surface-to-surface radiation models, which includes external radiation sources (for example, the sun). The surface-to-surface radiation capabilities in the module are based on the radiosity method. In addition, the module also contains functionality for surface-to-surface radiation in par ticipating media. This radiation model accounts for the absorption, emission, and scattering of radiation by the fluid present between radiating surfaces. The basis of the module is the balance of energy in a studied system. The contributions to this energy balance originate from conduction, advection, and radiation but also from latent heat, Joule heating, heat sources, and heat sinks. In the case of moving solids, translational terms may also be included in the heat transfer models, for example for solids in rotating machinery. Physical proper ties and heat sources (or sinks) may be described as arbitrary expressions of the dependent variables in a model (for example, temperature and electric field). The heat transfer equations are defined automatically by dedicated physics interfaces for heat transfer and fluid flow. The formulations of these equations can be visualized in detail for validation and verification purposes. Physical proper ties such as thermal conductivity, heat capacity, density, and emissivity can be obtained from the built-in material library for solids and fluids and from the add-on Material Library in COMSOL. In addition, the module contains relations for the calculation of heat transfer coefficients for different types of convective heat transfer from a surface. For turbulent heat transfer, it also features relations that calculate the thermal conductivity in turbulent flow using the eddy diffusivity from turbulence models (sometimes referred to as turbulent conductivity). The work flow in the Heat Transfer Module is straightforward and is described by these stepsdefine the geometry, select the material to be modeled, select the type of heat transfer, define the boundary and initial conditions, define the finite element mesh, select a solver, and visualize the results. All these steps are accessed from the COMSOL Desktop. The mesh and solver steps are often automatically completed with the default settings, which are already tuned for each type of heat transfer interface. The Applications Heat transfer is present in most physical processes and phenomena, either as a by-effect or as a desired effect. The module can be effectively used to study a variety
Introduction

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of processes, for example, to include building ventilation effects, to account for turbulent free convection and heat transfer, and to analyze the impact of electronic microdevice heat generation and cooling. The Heat Transfer Modules Model Library contains tutorial and benchmark models from different engineering fields and from different applications. The Electronics and Power Systems section in the Model Library includes models that often involve heat generation and heat transfer in solids and conjugate heat transfer, where cooling is described in greater detail. The models in these applications are often used for designing cooling systems and controlling the operating conditions of electronic devices and power systems. The interpretation of the model results provide the tools needed to understand and optimize the flow and heat transfer mechanisms in these systems.

Temperature field as a result of conjugate heat transfer in a benchmark model for electronics cooling.

The Process and Manufacturing section in the Model Library has examples including thermal processing of materials and phase change processes such as continuous casting and friction stir welding. The common feature with the models in this section are that the temperature field and the temperature variations have a very large impact on the material proper ties of the modeled processes and devices. The highly nonlinear behavior of the material proper ties as functions of temperature, combined

8 | Introduction

with the high temperatures that implies accounting for radiation, make these processes difficult to predict and understand. Modeling and simulation often provide a shor tcut to this understanding, which is required to design and operate a system.

Temperature field in a model of continuous casting. A sharp temperature gradient is found across the mushy layer, where the liquid metal solidifies.

The Medical Technology section in the Model Library introduces the concept of bioheating, where the influence of various processes in living tissue are accounted for as contribution to heat flux and as sources and sinks in the heat balance. The type of bioheating applications modeled include hyper thermia cancer therapy, such as microwave heating of tumors, and the interaction between microwave antennas and living tissue, for example, the influence of cellphone use to the temperature of tissue close to the ear. The benefit of using the bioheat equation is that it has been validated for different types of living tissue using empirical data for the different proper ties, sources, and sinks. The models and simulations defined in this interface provide excellent complements to experimental and clinical trials, which may be used, for example, to develop new methods for dose planning. The Heat Transfer Interfaces The figure below shows the Heat Transfer interfaces included in the Heat Transfer Module. These physics interfaces describe different heat transfer mechanisms and

Introduction

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also include predefined expressions for sources and sinks. The Heat Transfer interfaces are available in 2D, 2D axisymmetric, 3D, and for stationary and time-dependent analyses.

The Heat Transfer in Solids interface ( ) describes, by default, heat transfer by conduction. It is also able to account for heat flux due to translation in solids, for example, the rotation of a disk or the linear translation of a shaft. The Heat Transfer in Fluids interface ( ) accounts for conduction and advection in gases and liquids as the default heat transfer mechanisms. The coupling to the flow field in the advection term may be entered manually in the user interface or it may be selected from a list that couples heat transfer to an existing Fluid Flow interface. This interface may be used when the flow field has already been calculated and the heat transfer problem is added afterwards, typically for simulations of forced convection. The Heat Transfer in Porous Media interface ( ) combines conduction in a porous matrix and in the fluid contained in the pore structure with the advection of heat generated by the flow of the fluid. This physics interface provides power law or user-defined expression for the effective heat transfer proper ties and a predefined expression for dispersion in porous media. Dispersion is caused by the tor tuous path

10 | Introduction

of the liquid in the porous media, which would not be described if only the mean advective term was taken into account. This physics interface may be used for a wide range of porous materials, from porous structures in the pulp and paper industry to the simulation of heat transfer in soil and rock. The Bioheat Transfer Interface ( ) is a dedicated interface for heat transfer in living tissue. The bioheat model described in this physics interface has been verified for different types of living tissue, where also empirical data is available for physical proper ties, sources, and sinks. Apar t from data such as thermal conductivity, heat capacity, and density, tabulated data is also available for blood perfusion rates and metabolic heat sources. The Heat Transfer in Shells ( ) interface contains descriptions for heat transfer where large temperature variations may be present in a structure but where the temperature differences across the thickness of the material of the structure are negligible. Typical examples may be structures like tanks, pipes, heat exchangers, airplane fuselages, etc. This physics interface can be combined with other heat transfer interfaces, for example to model the walls of a tank using the Heat Transfer in Thin Shells interface while the Heat Transfer in Fluids may be used to model the fluid inside the tank. The Conjugate Heat Transfer interfaces ( ) describe heat transfer in solids and fluids and nonisothermal flow in the fluid. The heat transfer process is tightly coupled with the fluid flow problem and the physics interface includes features for describing heat transfer in free and forced convection, including pressure work and viscous heating. These physics interfaces are available for laminar and turbulent nonisothermal flow. For highly accurate simulations of heat transfer between a solid and a fluid in the turbulent flow regime, low-Reynolds turbulence models resolve the temperature field in the fluid all the way to the solid wall in the Low-Re k- interface ( ). For less computational expensive simulations, where wall heat transfer is less impor tant, the k- turbulence gives good accuracy at a comparably low cost. The standard k- turbulence model in the k- interface is computational inexpensive compared to the above mentioned ones but usually also less accurate. The Spallar t-Allmaras interface is a dedicated interface for conjugate heat transfer in aerodynamics, for example for the simulation of wing profiles. The Heat Transfer interface for radiation belong to essentially two different groups of radiation modeling interfaces: the surface-to-surface radiation and the radiation in par ticipating media interfaces. The Heat Transfer with Surface-to-Surface Radiation interface ( ) combines heat transfer in fluid or solids including conduction and
Introduction

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convection with surface-to-surface radiation. The Heat Transfer with Radiation in Par ticipating media ( ) combines heat transfer by conduction and convection in solids and fluids with radiation where absorption or emission of radiation is taken into account by the radiation model. In addition the Surface-to-Surface Radiation interface ( ) describes systems where only heat transfer by radiation needs to be taken into account, typically heat transfer between surfaces in space applications. The corresponding Radiation in Par ticipating Media interface include absorption and emission of radiation in pure radiative heat transfer. The Joule Heating interface ( ) is a multiphysics interface that couples electric heating and current conduction in electric conductors with heat transfer. This multiphysics interface includes the features from the Heat Transfer in Solids interface with the Electric Current interface including predefined couplings for Joule heating.

12 | Introduction

Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink

This model is intended as an introduction to simulations of fluid flow and conjugate heat transfer. It demonstrates the following impor tant points. How to: Draw an air box around a device in order to model convective cooling in this box. Set a total heat flux on a boundary using automatic area computation. Display results in an efficient way using selections in data sets. The modeled system consists of an aluminum heat sink for cooling of components in electronic circuits mounted inside a channel of rectangular cross section (see the figure below). Such a set-up is used to measure the cooling capacity of heat sinks. Air enters the channel at the inlet and exits the channel at the outlet. The base surface of the heat sink receives a 1 W heat flux from an external heat source. All other external faces are thermally insulated.

inlet

outlet

base surface

The model set-up including channel and heat sink.

The cooling capacity of the heat sink can be determined by monitoring the temperature of the base surface of the heat sink. The model solves a thermal balance for the heat sink and the air flowing in the rectangular channel. Thermal energy is transpor ted through conduction in the aluminum heat sink and through conduction and convection in the cooling air. The
Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink

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temperature field is continuous across the internal surfaces between the heat sink and the air in the channel. The temperature is set at the inlet of the channel. The base of the heat sink receives a 1W heat flux. The transpor t of thermal energy at the outlet is dominated by convection. The flow field is obtained by solving one momentum balance for each space coordinate (x, y, and z) and a mass balance. The inlet velocity is defined by a parabolic velocity profile for fully developed laminar flow. At the outlet, a constant pressure is combined with the assumption that there are no viscous stresses in the direction perpendicular to the outlet. At all solid surfaces, the velocity is set to zero in all three spatial directions. The thermal conductivity of air, the heat capacity of air, and the air density are all temperature-dependent material proper ties. You can find all of the settings mentioned above in the physics interface for Conjugate Heat Transfer in COMSOL Multiphysics. You also find the material proper ties, including their temperature dependence, in the Material Browser.

14 | Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink

Results The hot wake behind the heat sink visible in the figure below is a sign of the convective cooling effects. The maximum temperature, reached at the heat sink base, is slightly more than 375K.

The surface plot shows the temperature field on the channel walls and the heat sink surface, while the arrow plot shows the flow velocity field around the heat sink.

M O D E L W I Z A RD 1 Go to the Model Wizard window. 2 Click Next to create a 3D model.

>Laminar Flow

3 In the Add physics tree, select Heat Transfer>Conjugate Heat Transfer (nitf) . 4 Click Next 6 Click Finish . . . 5 In the Studies tree, select Preset Studies>Stationary

Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink

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GLOBAL DEFINITIONS

Parameters

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Global Definitions 2 Go to the Settings window for Parameters.

and choose Parameters

Define some parameters that are used when specifying the channel dimensions. 3 Locate the Parameters section. In the Parameters table, enter the following settings:
NAME EXPRESSION DESCRIPTION

L_channel W_channel H_channel U0

7[cm] 3[cm] 1.5[cm] 5[cm/s]

Channel length Channel width Channel height Mean inlet velocity

16 | Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink

GEOMETRY 1

Import 1

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Model 1 (mod1)>Geometry 1 and choose Import 2 Go to the Settings window for Import.

3 Locate the Import section. Click the Browse button. 4 Browse to the models Model Library folder and double-click the file heat_sink_n19.mphbin. 5 Click the Build Selected button .

Rectangle 1

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Geometry 1

and choose Work Plane

2 In the Model Builder, right-click Geometry Rectangle . 3 Go to the Settings window for Rectangle.

(below the Work Plane 1 node) and choose

4 Locate the Size section. In the Width field, enter L_channel. 5 In the Height field, enter W_channel. 6 Locate the Position section. In the x field, enter -4.5e-2. 7 In the y field, enter -W_channel/2. 8 Click the Build Selected button .

Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink

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Extrude 1

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Work Plane 1 (wp1) and choose Extrude . 2 Go to the Settings window for Extrude. 3 Locate the Distances from Work Plane section. In the table under Distances enter H_channel. 4 Click the Build Selected button .

5 Click the Go to Default 3D View button 6 Click the WireFrame Rendering button

on the Graphics toolbar. on the Graphics toolbar.

MATERIALS 1 In the Model Builder, right-click Model 1 (mod1)>Materials Browser . 2 Go to the Material Browser window. 3 Locate the Materials section. In the Materials tree, select Built-In>Air. 4 Right-click and choose Add Material to Model from the menu.
Air

and choose Open Material

By default, the first material added applies to all domains. Typically, you can leave this setting and add other materials that override the default material where applicable. In this example, specify aluminum for Domain 2:

18 | Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Materials choose Open Material Browser . 2 Go to the Material Browser window.

and

3 Locate the Materials section. In the Materials tree, select Built-In>Aluminum 3003-H18. 4 Right-click and choose Add Material to Model from the menu.

Aluminum 3003-H18

1 In the Model Builder, click Aluminum 3003-H18 2 Select Domain 2 only.

Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink

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C O N J UG AT E H E A T TR A N S FE R ( N I T F )

Fluid 1

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Model 1 (mod1)>Conjugate Heat Transfer (nitf) choose Fluid . 2 Select Domain 1 only.
Inlet 1

and

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Conjugate Heat Transfer (nitf) and choose the boundary condition Laminar Flow>Inlet . 2 Select Boundary 115 only. 3 Go to the Settings window for Inlet. 4 Locate the Boundary Condition section. From the Boundary condition list, select Laminar inflow. 5 Locate the Laminar Inflow section. In the Uav field, enter U0.
Outlet 1

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Conjugate Heat Transfer (nitf) and choose the boundary condition Laminar Flow>Outlet . 2 Select Boundary 1 only.

20 | Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink

Temperature 1

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Conjugate Heat Transfer (nitf) boundary condition Heat Transfer in Solids>Temperature .

and choose the

2 Select Boundary 115 only. Note: The default temperature, corresponding to 20 degrees Celsius or 68 degrees Fahrenheit, applies at the inlet.
Heat Flux 1

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Conjugate Heat Transfer (nitf) boundary condition Heat Transfer in Solids>Heat Flux . 2 Select Boundary 8 only. 3 Go to the Settings window for Heat Flux. 4 Locate the Heat Flux section. Click the Total heat flux button. 5 In the qtot field, enter 1.
Outflow 1

and choose the

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Conjugate Heat Transfer (nitf) boundary condition Heat Transfer in Solids>Outflow . 2 Select Boundary 1 only.

and choose the

Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink

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MESH 1

Free Tetrahedral 1

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Model 1 (mod1)>Mesh 1 Tetrahedral .

Size 1

and choose Free

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Free Tetrahedral 1 and choose Size . 2 Go to the Settings window for Size. 3 Locate the Geometric Entity Selection section. From the Geometric entity level list, select Domain. 4 Select Domain 1 only. 5 Locate the Element Size section. From the Predefined list, select Finer. 6 Click the Build All button .

ST UD Y 1 1 In the Model Builder, right-click Study 1 and choose Compute .

To reproduce the figures shown later in the Results section, define a selection of walls used for analysis.

22 | Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink

DEFINITIONS In order to get a better plot, create a selection under the Definitions node.

Walls

1 In the Model Builder, right-click Model 1 (mod1)>Definitions Selections>Explicit . 2 Go to the Settings window for Explicit.

and choose

3 Locate the Input Entities section. From the Geometric entity level list, select Boundary. 4 Right-click Explicit 1 6 Click OK. 7 Select Boundaries 3 and 5114 only. and choose Rename. 5 Go to the Rename Explicit dialog box and enter walls in the New name field.

Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink

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RESULTS

Data Sets

1 In the Model Builder, expand the Data Sets node Sets>Solution 1 and choose Add Selection .

. Right-click Results>Data

2 Go to the Settings window for Selection. 3 Locate the Geometric Entity Selection section. From the Geometric entity level list, select Boundary. 4 From the Selection list, select walls.

Temperature (nitf)

1 In the Model Builder, click Results>Temperature (nitf) 2 Go to the Settings window for 3D Plot Group.

3 Locate the Data section. From the Data set list, select Solution 1. 4 Right-click Results>Temperature (nitf) and choose Arrow Volume . 5 Go to the Settings window for Arrow Volume. 6 In the upper-right corner of the Expression section, click Replace Expression.

24 | Tutorial ExampleHeat Sink

7 From the menu, choose Conjugate Heat Transfer (Laminar Flow)>Velocity field (u,v,w).

8 Go to the Settings window for Arrow Volume. 9 Locate the Arrow Positioning section. Find the x grid points subsection. In the Points field, enter 40. 1 0 Find the y grid points subsection. In the Points field, enter 20. 1 1 Find the z grid points subsection. From the Entry method list, select Coordinates. 1 2 In the Coordinates field, enter 5e-3. 1 3 In the Model Builder, right-click Arrow Volume 1 and choose Color Expression . 1 4 Go to the Settings window for Color Expression. 1 5 In the upper-right corner of the Expression section, click Replace Expression. 1 6 From the menu, choose Conjugate Heat Transfer (Laminar Flow)>Velocity magnitude (nitf.U). 1 7 Click the Plot button .

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