When CFD convection coefficients are transferred to a thermal analysis, an Imported Convection Coefficient object can be inserted to represent the transfer.
To define a convection, you need a film coefficient value and a bulk temperature value. For the Imported Convection Coefficient object, film coefficient values need to be imported from an external source, such as External Data. Bulk temperature values can be imported from an external source or defined internally.
Note: A warning message will appear if negative mapped HTC values are present. Insert a validation object and use the Source Value option to determine source nodes with values less than zero.
For applicable transfers or for specific steps to transfer data, see the Imported Boundary Conditions section.
Application Options
If your model includes two bodies that share faces, one solid and one shell, the Shared Reference Body property displays automatically. The property provides a drop-down list of the names of the bodies that share the scoped features. For the steps to use this property, see the Convection section.
Imported convection loads from External Data can be mapped and applied to either the centroids () or of the selected element faces (3D) or element edges (2D) using the Applied To property.
Specify Reference Temperature from Line Bodies for Fluid Flow
In addition, if your model includes one or more Line Bodies, with the Model Type property set to , you can obtain reference temperature values from these specified Thermal Fluid bodies.
To specify reference temperature using the Thermal Fluid bodies, you set the Fluid Flow property (of the Fluid Flow Controls category), of the Imported Convection Coefficient object, to . When you activate the Fluid Flow property, the application automatically displays a Scoping Method property and a Fluid Flow Scoping property in the Details pane category.
Using these scoping properties, you specify a desired edge or edges, a vertex, or a node using either direct selection or using a Named Selection. Note the following processing methods based on the defined scoping:
Edge(s) on a fluid line body: Convection is accounted for with surface elements SURF151 and SURF152. The application maps the elements to the fluid elements using a distance-based algorithm. This option uses the two nodes from the mapped fluid element to specify the reference temperature. Note that you can use the Display Connection Lines property to display the connection lines between the centroid of each element face/edge of the convection surface(s)/edge(s) to the corresponding closest node on the fluid flow scoping. The closest node is computed using a distance-based algorithm.
Note: The display of the connection lines may not be an accurate representation of the connection in the solver. The solver, by default and when applicable, uses the closes two nodes from the scoped fluid elements to specify the reference temperature.
Vertex/Node on a fluid line body. This option uses the specified vertex or node to specify the reference temperature. You can specify a single node or vertex only.