Analysis Capabilities • Steady-state solution • Transient solution • Coupled thermal/fluids solutions • Conduction heat transfer: • Across regular boundaries • Across irregular boundaries • Through heavily skewed meshes • Convection heat transfer: • Constant or variable film coefficient • Library of 57 embedded convection film correlations Geometrical configurations Laminar and turbulent flows with calculated transitions Natural and forced convection Pool boiling and condensation Contact resistance with interstitial fluid • User supplied correlations • Convection elements • Radiation heat transfer: • Built-in viewfactor program • Gray and wavelength-dependent radiosity networks • Participating media • Time- and temperature-dependent emissivity and transmissivity | • 3D tetrahedral, wedge and hexahedral elements • Shell versions of bar, tri, and quad elements • Material properties: • Constant, time- and temperature-dependent • Directionally dependent • Definitions through 13 evaluation functions • User supplied subroutines • Unlimited phase changes • 1000 member materials library • Thermal conductivity • Specific heat • Density • Latent heats • Querying capabilities through Patran Materials • Viewfactor program: • Fully integrated into Patran Thermal • Uses the same Patran model • 2D and 3D Cartesian coordinate viewfactors • Axisymmetric coordinate viewfactors • Multiple symmetry support: reflections across a plane or line rotation "n" times by "x" degrees about an arbitrary axis • Finite element support: Linear quadrilateral faces (Hex, Wedge, Quad, etc.) |
• Dynamic radiation viewfactors • Advection heat transfer: • Variable mass flow energy balance • Flow networks: • Multiple parallel, series flow paths • Coupled to thermal solution • Pump, turbine, gravity head | Linear triangular faces (Tets, Wedges, Tri, etc.) Linear bar faces for 2D x/y elements Linear bar faces for axisymmetric elements • Obstruction checking • Flagging of convex surfaces and non-obstructions • Multiple enclosures • Ambient node • Viewfactors reusable when material properties change • Adaptive integration order for improved accuracy and reduced CPU time • Collapsed radiation network option • Diagnostic data |
• Head loss in pipes, valves, bends, tees, orifices, check valves, plenums • Variable fluid properties • Specified or calculated friction factor (Moody's equation) Modeling Capabilities • Element library: • 2D 3D and RZ bar elements • 2D, 3D and RZ triangular elements • 2D, 3D and RZ quadrilateral elements | • Direct geometry access from supported CAD systems • or Patran geometry creation • Automatic meshing • Apply thermal boundary conditions to geometry or FEM • Flexibility in selection of application regions at a point, within a volume, along an edge, across a face, through a solid or by enveloping the complete model in a spatial field • Non-spatial fields for time and temperature dependent boundary conditions definitions • On-line context sensitive and topical help • Ability to share analysis model and results with other Patran solver-applications |
• Patran Thermal Specific: • Analysis environment selected through an analysis preference • Thermal material and element properties forms • Thermal microfunctions input data forms • Solution parameters forms with appropriate defaults • Problem setup and execution control • Complete Patran Thermal User’s Guide online TRASYS and NEVADA Interface • Ability to output geometry and material properties to TRASYS and NEVADA • Ability to translate orbital fluxes and radiation couplings as input to Patran Thermal • Supports TRASYS articulating components SINDA Deck Capabilities • SINDA 85 format • SINDA/G (BCD) format • Ready-to-run SINDA deck • Includes radiation resistors generated by viewfactor program • Material properties automatically loaded into Array Data • Complete Constants Data and Execution blocks | |
• Thermal boundary conditions: • Time- and temperature-dependent point heat sources • Time- and temperature-dependent volumetric heat sources • Time- and temperature-dependent surface heat fluxes • Fixed or variable nodal temperatures • Radiant surface properties • 21-microfunction library for time- or temperature-dependent boundary conditions • User supplied subroutines • Selectable physical units and output • Unrestricted node numbering scheme • Unlimited problem size (hardware limited only) • STEP-TAS translator (SUN only) Solution Features • Solution algorithms: • Unconditionally stable implicit predictor/ corrector method (Hughes) • Explicit method (Euler) • Strongly Nonlinear Point Successive Over Relaxation equation solver for implicit transient or steady-state calculations • Direct solver and combined direct/ iterative solutions • User-controlled parameters for fast solutions of nearly linear problems • Solution techniques: • Optional automatic selection of implicit or explicit solution on a node-by-node and time step-by-time step basis • Automatically calculates and updates convergence acceleration parameters for iterative solutions | • MSC Institute offers the PAT 312 P/THERMAL class. Please call for a class schedule. • Documentation • Patran Thermal User’s Guide (on-line) • Viewfactor code User’s Guide (on-line) • Deliverables • CD-ROM containing all required files necessary to load and run Patran Thermal, plus example problems • User documentation • Complete installation instructions |
• Convergence based on estimated maximum temperature error • Optional automatic modification of calculation time step • Restart option User Preference • Patran Specific: • Intuitive forms driven interface | |
• Exact FE to RC network translation based on same method as Patran Thermal • No reverse translator required for post-processing with Patran Results Evaluation Capabilities • Results read and stored in Patran model database • Results evaluation with Patran's extensive post-processing capabilities: • Contour and fringe display • Time vs. temperature plots • Isosurface plots • Animation of results Output information: • Nodal temperatures at selectable time points • Maximum explicit time step per node per selected time point • Net element heat fluxes at selectable time steps • Nodal heat sources and convection coefficients at selectable time steps • Detailed time history of selected nodes • Optional program calculated parameters including conduction, convection, radiation and advection resistors, capacitors and heat • Temperatures may be automatically applied as loads in other solver-applications Configuration Requirements • General requirements and configuration information • FORTRAN compiler required | |
• Optimum memory configuration varies with problem size and complexity. Consult your local Patran representative for your particular configuration and application needs as well as for supported computer systems • Approximate memory requirements | |
• Dynamically optimizes data array size prior to execution Support and Deliverables • Hotline support Training: |