Data Assignment > Heat Conduction and Seepage Boundary conditions > Defining heat conduction boundary conditions

 

Defining heat conduction boundary conditions

You must first create and define sets of heat conduction boundary conditions before assigning them on the heat conduction model.

> Types of heat conduction boundary condition

There are a few different types of heat conduction boundary conditions as follows:  

 

temperature: A temperature is specified for various objects such as nodes, curves and surfaces.
 

  convection: The convection coefficient and the ambient temperature are assigned to an edge curve or a boundary surface .
 

  heat flux: The heat flux through a curve or a face is specified.
 

  point source: A node is defined as a heat source. Heat source is more analogous to load condition of structural analysis, and may be treated as such. In VisualFEA, however, heat source is treated as a kind of boundary condition.

The type of heat conduction boundary condition is chosen using the popup menu in "Heat Boundary" dialog. The editable text items are altered subsequent to selection of the popup menu.

> Editable text items

Each type of heat conduction boundary conditions has different editable text items as shown in the following table. The boundary conditions are defined by entering the numerical values into these editable text items. Centigrade, Fahrenheit, or any other unit may be employed, but should be used consistently for all items.

< Editable text items of heat boundary condition>