Inverse Heat Transfer Wizard Primer

Last updated on 06/21/05

Objective of Primer:
The objective of this primer is to provide a brief overview of the interface of inverse heat transfer
wizard.

Purpose of heat transfer wizard:

The purpose of this wizard is to determine the heat transfer coefficients as a function of surface
temperature and location of the given part from the known thermal history. Heat transfer
coefficients are the necessary thermal boundary conditions that are required to accurately model
a quenching or heating process.

Methodology:
A generic heat treat geometry which is representative of a family of parts would be selected. This
part would be instrumented with several thermocouples near the surface of the part as well as the
inside of the part. The instrumented part would then be subjected to the quenching process. The
time versus temperature data for all the thermocouple locations would be collected. Based on an
initial guess of heat transfer coefficients, DEFORM would run an initial thermal simulation of the
quench process. DEFORM optimization routines would then compare the simulated timetemperature modeling results with the experimental data and would modify the heat transfer
coefficients until a good agreement between the simulation and the experimental data is reached.

Input to the model:

The following are the key inputs to the model:
1. Geometry of the part
2. Thermocouple locations
3. Time Vs temperature data for the thermocouple locations
4. Definition of heat transfer coefficients zones (how many HTC functions around the part?)
5. Initial guess for the heat transfer coefficients
6. Thermal properties of the material

Output from the model:

The following are the key outputs from the model:
1. Heat transfer coefficients as a function of surface temperature for each zone
2. Comparison of experimental and simulated temperature data

Wizard:
An overview of the inverse heat transfer wizard is as follows:
1. The wizard takes the user through a self-contained pre-processor, FEM/optimization
engine and post-processor
2. The wizard would allow only one object for rigid thermal analysis.

3. The wizard allows an initial problem set up as well as a restart of an existing analysis.
4. Model outputs can be viewed in the wizard itself.

Characteristics:
Project based
The inverse heat transfer wizard is project based in that each simulation will be associated with a
project directory. A project can consist of a single optimization run.
User interface
The interface for this wizard is guided, step by step sequential set up. Running the simulation
and Post-Processing the results is carried out in the wizard itself.

Navigating the Wizard:

This wizard can be started by selecting the New problem button and choosing Inverse Heat.
Alternatively, the directory tree can be used to create an empty directory and then by clicking
Inverse Heat on the right side of the main window under Tool, the wizard can be started.
.

Figure 1: A snapshot of the interface showing the start up of inverse heat transfer wizard.

Pre-Processor
The geometry can be imported from an external database or a keyword file. An IGES file or a
GEO file can also be imported. The wizard then enables the mesh generator and the coating
mesh capability allows a creation of layered mesh. With the layered mesh,finer mesh density is
possible near the surface and the transition to coarser mesh in the core is dramatic.

Figure 2: Mesh generation

Display window
The display window (See

Figure 3) is where the part is shown. The available screens are:

Graphic A graphical display of the current project.

Summary A text summary of the listing all the steps involved in the inverse heat
transfer wizard.

Wizard User need to select and input the required information for the problem set up.

Figure 3: The display window showing the part, summary and the wizard window.

Mouse-keyboard combinations can change the view of the graphic selection as listed below:

Left mouse button + CTRL rotates the objects in the display window

Left mouse button + SHIFT pans the objects in the display window

Left mouse button + ALT dynamically zooms the display window

Left mouse button + CTRL + ALT zooms a window in the display window

Thermocouple location and data:

The thermocouple locations and the corresponding time-temperature can be imported into the
wizard. The number of heat treat zones can also be defined and the corresponding surface nodes
under each zone can be defined. Heat treat zones define variation of heat transfer coefficients
around the part. Figure 4 shows the user interface for the definition of heat transfer zones.

Figure 4: Thermocouple locations and heat transfer zones

Heat transfer coefficient function definition:

User needs to define the number of control temperature points and the corresponding
temperature values for which the heat transfer coefficients need to be derived. User needs to set
the initial guess, the minimum and maximum values for the heat transfer coefficients. Figure 5
shows the user interface for the heat transfer function definition. Defining a reasonable values
helps the DEFORM optimization routines to get to the desired results quicker. For example,
defining a huge range of lower and upper bound heat transfer values for a heat treat process, and
an unreasonably higher or lower initial guess, which is not representative of the quench process,
would drive the optimization routine to take a longer time to solve the problem.
Simulation controls and optimization controls need to be selected by the user and the simulation
can then be submitted for execution.

Figure 5: The heat transfer function definition for initial guess, lower bound and upper
bound values.

Results:
After the DEFORM optimization run is completed, user can view the optimization results. For
each of the heat transfer zones defined, user can view the optimal heat transfer coefficients as a
function of surface temperature. User can also view the comparison of simulated temperature and
the experimental data for each thermocouple locations.