Transient Thermal Solutions

A transient thermal solution determines the distribution of temperatures and heat fluxes at multiple time steps (as the model heats or cools due to assigned thermal sources and loads). The boundaries, excitations, and ambient temperature, which represent the thermal sources and loads, can either be static or can vary with time. Results can be reported, and field overlays can be animated, as a function of time.

All boundaries, excitations, contact, and results available for steady-state thermal analyses are also available for transient thermal analyses, plus the following additional capabilities:

For Convection boundaries:

Time-dependent Film Coefficient
Time-dependent Ambient Temperature

Time-dependent Temperature boundaries
Time-dependent internal Heat Generation excitations
Time-dependent Heat Flux excitations
Initial Temperature (object-based assignment)
Thermal Monitor to report temperature vs. time at specified points

For information about how to define time-dependent boundaries and excitations, see Using Datasets to Define Transient Parameters.

For a workflow video of the transient thermal analysis process using a trace mapping example, see Video: Transient Thermal Analysis with Trace Mapping.

For information about performing transient thermal restart analyses (continuing from the results of a previous thermal solution), see Transient Restart Analyses.

Note:

You can import EM Loss excitations from a transient source solution. However, the loss is not time-varying in the target design solution. An average EM power loss is calculated, applied as a step load at the start of the target transient thermal solution, and maintained at a constant value throughout the analysis duration.