7.

0 HEAT TRANSFER AND THERMAL STRESS ANALYSIS Introduction The temperature distribution within a mechanical component may play an important role in its ability to perform without failure. In many instances, material strength and other properties may be a function of temperature, especially high temperatures. However, even at temperatures below property degradation, high thermal gradients can produce thermal stress. Indeed, thermal stresses can be induced by simply restraining a body during a heating or cooling process, by the differential expansion of dissimilar materials and by transient stresses due to a non-uniform temperature gradient. Thermal stresses can be directly combined with mechanical stresses by the use of superposition in linear analyses, thus providing the total stress which can then be used to determine the success or otherwise of the component design. However before any stress analysis or assessments may be considered, a satisfactory heat transfer analysis must be undertaken.

7.1 THERMAL (HEAT TRANSFER) ANALYSIS Thermal analysis is one of the most straightforward applications of FEA and in most cases, is simpler than the common linear static stress/displacement solution. However, complexities arise in two distinct areas; (1) Quantifying boundary conditions, especially for convection conditions and (2) Solution time in non-linear analysis for radiation and convection problems. Types of thermal analysis include steady-state analysis, transient thermal analysis and thermally induced displacements and stresses. However, before discussing how to perform a thermal analysis it is useful to re-examine the basics of heat transfer. Heat transfer can be divided into three basic mechanisms: conduction, convection and radiation. Like all finite element problems, the units of thermal analysis are arbitrary, so long as a consistent set is used.
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Conduction Conduction refers to the transfer of heat through a solid or non-moving fluid and is governed by the linear equation

Q=

kA T L

where Q is the heat flux rate, k the material conductivity, A, the cross-sectional area of the conducting path, L, the length of the conducting path and T, the temperature difference across the conducting path. The rate of heat conduction is proportional to the area and inversely proportional to the length of the path i.e. the smaller the cross section, the faster the rate and the longer the path, the slower the rate. The rate of conduction is linearly proportional to the temperature difference and this lends itself to a simple solution which can be adapted to a finite element form of solution.

Convection Convection is the transfer of heat through a fluid where the fluid is moving. Convection can be forced, when one fluid is pumped over a surface such as in a heat exchanger, or free, when fluid circulates due to convection currents alone. An expression for free convection from a hot surface is

Q = h[T f ] A( Ts Tinf )
where Q is the heat tranasfer rate, Tf, the film temperature (generally taken as the average of the surface and freestream temperatures), Tinf, the freestream fluid temperature, normally assumed to remain constant, Ts, the surface temperature, h, the convection film coefficient (normally a function of the film temperature, and A, the surface area.

It is noticed that if h is a function of the film temperature, the problem requires to be iterative, because the film temperature is not known prior to the calculation commencing. In finite element problems, convection is used as a boundary condition where surface temperatures are the unknown quantities. The surface temperature must then be solved such that both the conduction and convection conditions are satisfied.

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Radiation Radiation is the transfer of heat either through a vacuum or air. Radiation and convection may take place simultaneously or independently between two surfaces. The general form of an equation for radiation heat transfer between two parallel black surfaces is

Q = A(Th 4 Tc 4 )
where Q is the heat transfer rate, , the Stefan Boltzmann constant, A, the surface area (if we assume the areas are equal and all energy leaving one surface is absorbed by the other), Th, the hot surface temperature and Tc, the cold surface temperature. For grey body radiation for parallel plates, the equation becomes:

A(Th 4 Tc 4 ) Q= 1 1 + 1 1 2
where 1 and 2 are the emissivites of surfaces 1 and 2. It is noted that the heat flow rate is dependent on the temperatures to the fourth power and not the temperature difference to the fourth power. Radiation can be predominant at high temperatures. Radiation also requires a non-linear formulation because of the fourth order power temperature terms. 7.2 THERMAL MODELLING CONSIDERATIONS In many cases, it is desired to use the results of a thermal calculation as input to a stress run. In these cases, one model may be developed for use in the thermal analysis, whilst another may be used for the stress analysis. In the structural model, stress concentrations are other geometric features can dominate the model, whilst in a thermal analysis, less detail is required and a coarser model may be sufficient. Details such as notches and fillets will probably not affect the temperature distributions as much as the stress profiles. In the case of notches and corners, any thermal affect will be on the convection boundary conditions, which will be difficult to quantify in any event. Unless details of the convection conditions, i.e. fluid temperatures and velocities are known, the model will probably assume the same conditions in the corners or notch as on an adjacent outside surface.

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The type of thermal analysis will dictate whether or not any modification to the structural model is necessary. For a linear steady state analysis, the thermal model will run in much less time than for an equivalent structural model, since the thermal analysis has only one degree of freedom per node, that is temperature. Therefore using the same mesh model for both analyses is highly desirable. For highly non-linear problems such as radiation, non-linear convection or a thermal transient calculation, a coarse model may be justified, especially if the structural model contains small details required for examining stress concentration effects. In these cases, a more refined mesh may be required in order to allow one basic model to be used for both the thermal and structural models.

If the models are dissimilar, there may be problems of transferring the temperature data to the structural model. When the models have the same mesh, this can be handled directly by the computer. However, if the models are significantly different, then some interpolation and approximation may enter the solution. However, for conduction problems, because of the linear nature of the problems, simple thermal models may be sufficient for most cases. This will be examined in subsequent lectures. 7.3 BOUNDARY CONDITIONS The most difficult part of thermal modelling is not the generation of the model or the specification of the boundary condition, but rather knowing what boundary conditions to specify.

For radiation problems, the unknowns are the material emissivity and the view factors. View factors are a geometric property and can be estimated from tables or from a proprietary code. Material emissivity is critical to radiation analysis and is a function of the material, surface finish and temperature. Some texts provide tables of emissivity for various materials. Convection, both free and forced, is a complex phenomenon involving details of the fluid flow over a surface. The fluid s density, conductivity, coefficient of thermal expansion and viscosity are all involved. The effect of surface finish may also need to be included since it may influence the boundary layer. The effective rate of forced convection is strongly dependent on the fluid
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velocity and in cases where the fluid is stalled, e.g. in corners and notches, the convection rate may be much lower than along a free surface. Most FE codes only allow a simple linear firstorder non-linear input of a range of coefficients. Therefore, it is normal to make some simplifying assumptions ahead of time to determine the convection coefficients which are to be used. 7.4 THERMAL ANALYSIS IN ANSYS Like most commercial finite element systems, the ANSYS program has a full capability for solving thermal problems. Two main types of analysis are available in ANSYS: steady-state analysis, where temperature distribution and thermal quantities are evaluated under steady state loading conditions and transient thermal analysis where the temperature distribution and other thermal quantities are evaluated from time varying loading conditions. At present, only steady state analysis will be considered. For steady-state analysis, ANTYPE is equal to STATIC (default). Load types are analogous to structural quantities. For example, temperature loads are constraints and are applied via the D, DK etc. command groups. A uniform temperature can be specified by the use of TUNIF. Heat flow rate can be thought of as a force, which F, FK etc. being the command group. Convection and heat flux are surface loads applied via the SFL, SFA, SF command groups. Heat generation rate is a body load and is applied via BKF, BF etc. command group.

Once a thermal analysis is complete, the results are stored in a thermal results file, jobname.RTH as opposed to .RST for the structural run. The results file contains nodal temperatures (TEMP), nodal and element fluxes (TFX,Y,Z), nodal and elemental thermal gradients (TGX,Y,Z) and so on. See the on-line help for more details. Each of these quantities can be viewed using the POST1 postprocessor and by using suitable commands; e.g. PLNSOL,TEMP etc.

AN EXAMPLE - The Long Thin Fin

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The following exercise uses ANSYS to perform two-dimensional analyses on extended surfaces in the form of plain rectangular fins. The results so obtained are then compared with analytical values in order to gain experience and confidence in the application of the package. It will be assumed that the material is an aluminium alloy of thermal conductivity 184 W/mK, root temperature 150oC, surroundings temperature 20oC and a uniform surface heat transfer coefficient of 80 W/m2K over all exposed areas.

Root t emp = 1 50

o Surrounding t emp = 20

3 0 0 mm long x 5mm t hick fin

In finite element analysis, the accuracy of the solution depends on the total number of elements used and the distribution of the elements. Generally, more elements should be placed where the rate of change of the solution variable (here, temperature) is expected to be high and fewer elements where the gradient is small. For a long thin fin where heat conduction is mainly onedimensional along the fin with much less variation across the fin thickness, it is sufficient to have a small number of elements (say, 4 or 5) across the thickness. However a greater number will be required along the fin; the actual number will depend on the length of the fin, the accuracy desired and the CPU time affordable. Note that for the case studied here, the fins and boundary conditions are symmetrical about the centreline of the model, and hence it is only necessary to model half the fin above the centreline. No boundary condition is required to be specified along the centreline which is considered to be adiabatic due to symmetry. Note that in ANSYS 2-D analyses, the length normal to the x-y plane is always 1 unit long and the surfaces in the x-y plane are adiabatic.

Considering a rectangular fin of thickness 5 mm and length 300 mm it is required to determine, using ANSYS and one-dimensional theory, the heat transfer from the fin. The ANSYS input file LONGFIN.INP is attached and can be found on the class webpages.

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The ANSYS output pictures shown overleaf show the temperature contour which result from the thermal analysis. The graph shows the temperature plot along the centreline of the fin from the centre to the outer edge (Node 1 to 2)

MN

Y MX X Z

ANSYS 5.0 A 1 JAN 29 1995 22:26:54 PLOT NO. 2 NODAL SOLUTION STEP=1 SUB =1 TIME=1 TEMP TEPC=1.536 SMN =24.819 SMX =150 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150

ANSYS 5.0 A JAN 29 1995 22:25:52 PLOT NO. 1 POST1 STEP=1 SUB =1 TIME=1 PATH PLOT NOD1=1 NOD2=2 ZV =1 DIST=0.75 XF =0.5 YF =0.5 ZF =0.5 CENTROID HIDDEN

TCL

Rectangular Fin Example

Rectangular Fin Example

7.5 COURSEWORK EXERCISE Consider a three-dimensional rectangular fin of thickness H mm, length L mm and of width

W mm. The material is an aluminium alloy of thermal conductivity k W/mK, root temperature TR 0C, surroundings temperature TA OC and a uniform surface heat transfer coefficient of h
W/m2K over all exposed areas. Determine, using ANSYS, the heat transfer from the fin and the temperature distribution along the central longitudinal axis of the fin. Compare your results with those obtained from one-dimensional theory and comment on the validity of the one-dimensional assumption. If the fin has a central core of dimensions H/2, L/2 and W/2, filled with a material of conductivity (a) k/2 and (b) 2k, compare the heat transfer and temperature distribution with those obtained for the original fin. Guidance: 1. Since the fin is symmetrical about the central longitudinal planes, only one quarter of the fin needs to be modelled. The symmetrical planes are adiabatic and require no prescription of boundary conditions.

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2. Use element type SOLID70 and using the 2D example, generate the fin by VDRAG-ing the area in the x-y plane along a line in the z-direction (the line should first be LESIZEd with finer divisions at the exposed edges. (Why?). Use MSHAPE and VMESH commands to force brick elements. Isometric views can be obtained by /VIEW,1,1,1,1. 3. Select the exposed areas and the associated nodes and apply convection boundary conditions before applying temperature constraints at the root.

4. One-dimensional analytical solutions for fins of uniform cross-section can be found from text-books, e.g., Incropera F.P. and De Witt D., Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer, Wiley. FIN TYPE TIP CONDITION TEMP DISTRIBUTION b HEAT TRANSFER RATE

infinite short

(L) = 0 d/dx (x=L) =0

e mx
cosh m( L x ) cosh mL
b = (0) = Tb - T
M hPkAc b

M tanh mL

where

= T - T m 2 hP / kAc

h = surface heat transfer coefficient P = cross-sectional perimeter of fin k = thermal conductivity

Ac = cross-sectional area of fin

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5. Submit a brief report, including only the relevant contour (with mesh patterns) and path plots to illustrate your description and arguments. Include an ANSYS listing, highlighting the commands used to generate the volume and the 3D mesh and the application of boundary conditions.

Report must be submitted within 3 weeks of the date of issue and will account for 20% of the overall semester mark. As before, marks will be deducted if late and no mark will be given if work submitted after one week past deadline to Central Services.

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LONGFIN.INP (c) CKL

/PREP7 /TITLE, Rectangular Fin Example C*** Define Parameters x0=0 x1=0.3 y0=0.0025 y1=0.0025 nx=50 ny=3 xrat=5 htc=80 t_amb=20 t_base=150 C*** Define geometry K,1,x0 K,2,x1 K,3,x1,y1 K,4,,y0 A,1,2,3,4 C*** Subdivide lines using LESIZE LESIZE,1,,,nx,xrat LESIZE,3,,,nx,1/xrat LESIZE,2,,,ny LESIZE,4,,,ny C*** Select element type and material properties ET,1,55 MP,KXX,1,184

AMESH,1 SAVE FINI /SOLUT C*** Select fin surfaces -lines 2 & 3 LSEL,S,,,2,3 NSLL,,1 SF,ALL,CONV,htc,t_amb LSEL,S,,,4 NSLL,,1 D,ALL,TEMP,t_base LSEL,ALL NSEL,ALL SOLVE FINI /POST1 /RATIO,,,20 /CONT,,,t_amb,10,t_base PLNSOL,TEMP LPATH,1,2 PDEF,TCL,TEMP /RATIO /YRANGE,0,200 /GRID,1 PLPATH,TCL PRRSOL FINI /EXIT

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