SS-T: 4048 Structural Thermal Coupled Analysis with Temperature Dependent Mechanical Properties

Create structural thermal coupled analysis for exhaust manifold applied with material having temperature dependent mechanical properties.

Purpose
SimSolid performs meshless structural analysis that works on full featured parts and assemblies, is tolerant of geometric imperfections, and runs in seconds to minutes. In this tutorial, you will do the following:
  • Learn to apply temperature dependent mechanical properties and apply it to an exhaust manifold that will be solved with coupled thermal analysis
Model Description
The following model file is needed for this tutorial:
  • Exhaust_Manifold.SLDPRT
  • Temperature_vs_Elascity_modulus.csv
  • Temperature_vs_Poisson's_ratio.csv
  • Temperature_vs_density.csv
  • Temperature_vs_Thermal_expansion_coeffient.csv
Figure 1.


Import Geometry

  1. Open a new SimSolid session.
  2. Click Import from file .
  3. In the Open geometry files dialog, choose Exhaust_Manifold.SLDPRT.
  4. Click Open.
    The assembly will load in the modeling window.

Add New Material

  1. In the main menu, click Settings ➔ Material database.
  2. Click Add Group and rename the group, if required.
  3. Right-click on the new group and select Add material.
  4. Enter the material name to be Steel_304.
  5. Enter the values as shown in the below figure.
    Figure 2.


Create Temperature Curves for Mechanical Properties

  1. Select Add elasticity modulus-temperature curve and click Edit.
  2. Click Import .csv.
  3. Ensure units for Elasticity modulus and Temperature are MPa and C respectively and click OK.
  4. Select the Temperature_vs_Elascity_modulus.csv file and click Open.
    Notice that the plotter shows the curve according to the values imported from the CSV file.
    Figure 3.


  5. Click OK.
  6. Select Add Poisson’s ratio-temperature curve and click Edit.
  7. Click Import .csv.
  8. Ensure the unit for Temperature is C and click OK.
  9. Select the Temperature_vs_ Poisson's_ratio.csv file and click Open.
    Notice that the plotter shows the curve according to the values imported from the CSV.
    Figure 4.


  10. Click OK.
  11. Select Add density-temperature curve and click Edit.
  12. Click Import .csv.
  13. Ensure units for Density and Temperature are tonnes/mm3 and C and click OK.
  14. Select the Temperature_vs_ density.csv file and click Open.
    Notice that the plotter shows the curve according to the values imported from the CSV.
    Figure 5.


  15. Click OK.
  16. Select Add Thermal expansion-temperature curve and click Edit.
  17. Click Import .csv.
  18. Ensure the unit for Temperature is C and click OK.
  19. Select the Temperature_vs_ Thermal_expansion_coefficient.csv file and click Open.
    Notice that the plotter shows the curve according to the values imported from the CSV.
    Figure 6.


  20. Click OK.
  21. Click Apply.
  22. Click Save.
Figure 7.


Apply Material

  1. On the Assembly workbench, click Apply Material.
  2. Ensure Material database is selected.
  3. Select Steel_304 and click Apply to all parts.
  4. Click Close.

Create Thermal Steady-state Subcase

On the main window toolbar, click Thermal Analysis > Thermal Steady-state.
The new analysis appears in the Project Tree under Design study 1 and the Analysis Workbench opens.

Apply Temperature

  1. In the Project Tree, click the Thermal branch to open the Analysis Workbench.
  2. On the Analysis Workbench toolbar, select (Temperature).
  3. In the dialog, verify the Face radio button is selected.
  4. Select faces on the model from the modeling window.
    Figure 8.


    1. Ensure the Temperature unit is set to C.
    2. For Temperature, enter 220.
    3. Click OK.
      The load appears in the Thermal branch under Thermal conditions. A representation of the load is shown on the model.
  5. Repeat steps 2 and 3.
  6. Select faces on the model from the modeling window.
    Figure 9.


    1. Ensure the Temperature unit is set to C.
    2. For Temperature, enter 150.
    3. Click OK.
      The load appears in the Thermal branch under Thermal conditions. A representation of the load is shown on the model.
  7. Repeat steps 2 and 3 again.
  8. Select faces on the model from the modeling window.
    Figure 10.


    1. Ensure the Temperature unit is set to C.
    2. For Temperature, enter 100.
    3. Click OK.
      The load appears in the Thermal branch under Thermal conditions. A representation of the load is shown on the model.

Apply Convection

  1. In the Project Tree, click on a Thermal analysis branch to open the Analysis Workbench.
  2. On the workbench toolbar, click the Convection.
  3. In the dialog, verify the Face radio button is selected.
  4. Select the outer faces.
    1. In the dialog, select the Add tangent faces check box.
    2. In the modeling window, select one of the outer faces.
      The face is highlighted along with all adjacent faces.
      Figure 11.


  5. For Ambient temperature, enter 23.
  6. For Convective heat transfer coefficient, enter 25.
  7. Click OK.

Edit Solution Settings

  1. In the Analysis branch of the Project Tree, double-click on Solution settings.
  2. In the Solution settings dialog, for Adaptation select Global+Local in the drop-down menu.
  3. Click OK.

Run Analysis

  1. On the Project Tree, open the Analysis Workbench.
  2. Click Solve.

Review Results

  1. Plot the Temperature contour.
    1. On the Analysis Workbench toolbar, click Results plot.
    2. Select Temperature.
      The Legend window appears and shows the Temperature contour plot
  2. In the Legend window, click to view the values and location in the modeling window.
    Figure 12.


Create Structural Thermal Analysis and Define Thermal Load

  1. On the main window toolbar, click Structural Analysis ➔ Structural thermal.
    Tip: You can also right-click on an existing Thermal imported analysis and select Create linked analysis > Structural thermal.
  2. In the Thermal load window, select Link to a Thermal analysis result.
    Thermal imported analysis is automatically selected in the window.
    Note: If more than one analysis is present, manually choose the thermal imported analysis from the list.
    Figure 13.


  3. Click OK.
  4. Double-click on the setup available in the Structural 1 subcase.
    1. To use the temperature curves added for the mechanical properties of the applied material, select the Temperature dependent material checkbox.
    2. Click OK.

Create Immovable Support

  1. On the Analysis Workbench, click Immovable support.
  2. In the dialog, verify the Faces radio button is selected.
  3. In the modeling window, select the faces highlighted in orange from the figure below.
    Figure 14.


  4. Click OK.

Run Analysis

  1. On the Project Tree, open the Analysis Workbench.
  2. Click Solve.

Review Combined Results

  1. On the Analysis Workbench toolbar, click Results plot.
  2. Select Displacement Magnitude.
    The Legend window appear in the modeling window.
  3. Close all results dialogs.
Figure 15.