Thermal Fluid Analysis

Easily investigate the impact of cooling and design changes on component temperatures using thermal fluid analysis in SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation. You can quickly determine the impact of fluids flowing in and around the design to ensure correct thermal performance, product quality, and safety.

Tightly integrated with SOLIDWORKS CAD, thermal fluid analysis using SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation can be a regular part of your design process—reducing the need for costly prototypes, eliminating rework or delays, and saving time and development costs.

Thermal Fluid Analysis Overview

Thermal fluid analysis enables analysis of conjugate heat transfer (thermal conduction in solids, convection between fluid and solid, and radiation) using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) so you can:

• Detect hot spots in their designs
• Reduce overheating challenges
• Improve thermal isolation
• Leverage thermal performance in their products

SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation calculates either the steady state or transient temperature fields due to:

• Heat transfer in solids (conduction)
• Free, forced, and mixed convection
• Radiation
• Heat sources (heat generation rate, heat power, temperature)

Temperature fields can be exported to SOLIDWORKS Simulation for a thermal stress analysis.

Thermal Comfort Factors

Understand and evaluate thermal comfort levels for multiple environments using thermal comfort factor analysis with SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation and the HVAC Application Module.

Tightly integrated with SOLIDWORKS CAD, thermal comfort factor analysis using SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation can be a regular part of your design process—reducing the need for costly prototypes, eliminating rework or delays, and saving time and development costs.

Thermal Comfort Factors Analysis Overview

When designing an HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system, it is crucial to understand the level of thermal comfort for people in their environments (for example, home, office, bus, plane) as early as possible in the development cycle. However, thermal comfort is subjective. So, the realistic aim is to create a thermal environment that satisfies the maximum possible percentage of people taken as a group in a given environment.

Assessment of the thermal environment in the occupied zone requires knowing what are called Thermal Comfort Parameters, such as:

• Predicted Mean Vote (PMV)
• Predicted Percent Dissatisfied (PPD)
• Operative Temperature
• Draft Temperature
• Air Diffusion Performance Index (ADPI)

In addition to thermal comfort level, HVAC engineers can also review factors which give them information about air quality, such as:

• Contaminant Removal Effectiveness (CRE)
• Local Air Quality Index (LAQI)

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation uses Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis to enable quick, efficient simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer. You can easily calculate fluid forces and understand the impact of a liquid or gas on product performance.

Tightly integrated with SOLIDWORKS CAD, CFD analysis using SOLIDWORKS Simulation takes the complexity out of flow analysis and can be a regular part of your design process, reducing the need for costly prototypes, eliminating rework and delays, and saving time and development costs.

CFD Analysis Overview

CFD simulates fluid (either liquid or gas) passing through or around an object. The analysis can be very complex—for example, containing in one calculation heat transfer, mixing, and unsteady and compressible flows. The ability to predict the impact of such flows on your product performance is time consuming and costly without some form of simulation tool.

SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation offers a wide range of physical models and fluid flow capabilities so you can obtain better insight into product behavior that is critical to your design success covering a broad range of applications:

• Liquid and gas flow with heat transfer
• External and internal fluid flows
• Laminar, turbulent, and transitional flows
• Time-dependent flow
• Subsonic, transonic, and supersonic regimes
• Gas mixture, liquid mixture
• Conjugate heat transfer
• Heat transfer in solids
• Incompressible and compressible liquid
• Compressible gas
• Real gases
• Water vapor (steam)
• Non-Newtonian liquids (to simulate blood, honey, molten plastics)

Engineers across a wide range of industries can benefit from CFD—such as automotive, aerospace, defense, life science, machinery, and high tech. Indeed, almost every design encounters fluid dynamics at some point, whether heat or liquids, internal or external.