The Normal Flux applies to Nodal, 1D, 2D or 3D target.

The Nodal area must be input for Nodal target. The nodal flux multiplied by the nodal area equals the heat source on the node. Each node has the same amount of heat flux unless a spatial field is referred.

For 1D targets, “heat flux” is actually “Heat per Length”. Please note that is NOT heat flux per area. Because there are different kinds of 1D cross sections, the length is the only unambiguous way to describe the 1D heating.

When the target is 2D, the user can select Top, Bottom or Edge option. The edge option is also treated as heat flux per area. Thickness of the 2D property completes the area calculation for the edge. The Top and Bottom options are handled in the same way. In the view of heat application, it makes no difference whether heat flux is applied on the top or bottom of a surface. These two options are needed for load plot marker purposes only.

When the target is 3D, the heat flux is always applied to the external surfaces of the solid bodies.

The periodic option is the same as described for the Temp(MSC Sinda) load option.

The Thermostat option overrides all temperature or time functions. When thermostats are checked, temperature and time data boxes and field list boxes will be grayed out. The thermostat option may be used in steady-state also. The Sensor Node can be entered manually as “Node x” or picked on the screen with the cursor. The Minimum factor and Maximum factor do not have to be between 0.0 to 1.0, they can be even negative for analyzing cooling systems.