RadTherm

Heat Tr a n s f e r Ana lys i s S o f t w a re

ThermoAnalytics

RadTherm Overview
Since 1996
ThermoAnalytics has developed RadTherm to be the leading
transient thermal simulation code for solving complex heat
transfer problems. Corporations and laboratories around the
globe rely on RadTherms accuracy, powerful features, and
computation speed to deliver system-level thermal analysis.

The Choice of Global Leaders

ThermoAnalytics software is a central tool for achieving heat
management at many of the worlds leading manufacturers.
Feedback from these elite engineering teams defines our future
development and performance benchmarks.
BAE Systems
BMW
Boeing
Caterpillar
Chrysler
EADS
FIAT
Ford

Foster + Partners
GM/Opel
Harley-Davidson
Honda
Hyundi
Jaguar/Rover
John Deere
Mercedes-Benz

Peugeot-Citroen
Porsche
Renault
Rolls-Royce
SOM
TATA Motors
Volkswagen
Volvo 3P

Advancing Innovation
Because rapid time-to-market yields a competitive advantage,
our customers rely on the unequaled speed and features of
RadTherm to solve system-scale transient problems. The
tabbed Graphical User Interface (GUI) integrates geometry
import and editing, assignment of boundary conditions, setting
simulation parameters, and post-processing of results. The
intuitive user interface design means engineers and technicians
can become effective users with little or no software training.

Accelerating Solutions
The RadTherm solver is efficiently parallelized to allow
multiprocessor workstations to quickly solve large models.
RadTherm is also run on HPC systems at many of our
customers, and features a robust command line mode that can
be managed with job scheduling systems.

Leading Thermal Solver

RadTherm is written in modern, object-oriented C++ with
an optimized architecture. It performs a multimode energy
balance on each thermal node in a simulation, simultaneously
computing heat transfer rates for conduction, convection, and
radiation. The finite difference solution and numerical methods
used by RadTherm are unconditionally stable and second order
accurate in time and space. Models with millions of elements
are routinely solved on workstations and HPC systems.

Applications and Industries

Underhood

Exhaust

Off-Highway Emissions

Heat Protection
Component Modeling
Key-Off/Hot Shut Down
Front-end Cooling

Heat Shield Design

Transient Drive Cycles
Hot Spot Analysis
Thermomechanical Fatigue

DPF Design
EGR Simulation
Muffler & Catalyst
Turbochargers

HVAC & Climate Control

Batteries

Brakes & Clutches

Occupant Thermal Sensation

& Comfort
Heated/Cooled Seats
HVAC System Sizing
Body Insulation & Window Glazing

Cell or Pack Level Analysis

Thermal Management
(Passive and Active)
Transient Drive Cycles
Hot Soak

Brake Cooling Analysis

Composite Material Design
Clutch Design

Electronics

Architecture

Aerospace

Heat Sink Design

Chassis Analysis
Enclosure Design
Passive Cooling Optimization

HVAC System Analysis

Passive Design Studies
Building Energy Modeling
Glazing Design Optimization
Natural Environment Simulation

Environmental Control System (ECS)

Analysis
Fuselage Thermal Insulation Design
FAA Thermal Certification

Boundary Conditions

Importing Geometry

Radiation

In addition to basic geometry creation and editing tools,

RadTherm can directly read native geometry from meshing
tools, such as ANSA and Hypermesh, or import neutral file
formats including Nastran, Patran, and STL. The user can
quickly modify designs within RadTherm, e.g. shield position,
without returning to the original CAD file. Boundary conditions
are easily assigned using RadTherms tabbed user interface,
which guides the user through the model hierarchy.

RadTherm has comprehensive physics models to accurately

simulate large and complex radiation problems. Users can
select from a wide range of fixed or temperature-dependent
surface conditions from the standard RadTherm database.
RadTherm uses the net-radiation equation for computing
radiant heat transfer between surfaces. Because the
net-radiation solution is integrated into the thermal and
radiometric solutions, RadTherm can account for temperaturevarying surface conditions.

View Factors
ThermoAnalytics has pioneered the use of high speed voxelbased ray tracing algorithms, which compute both radiation
view factors and solar projected (apparent) areas. The voxel
method is exceptionally fast and accurate. The user can
dynamically set the accuracy of the view factor computation,
and utilize radiation patches to accelerate the thermal solution
of large models or simulate rotating components.

Convection
RadTherm allows the user to choose from several different
methods of computing convection, based on the system
requirements and available data:
Fixed or time-dependent convection coefficient
Library convection for use with 1D fluid nodes and
automatically calculated convection coefficients
Fluid Streams for interior convection along ducts and pipe
systems using easily-configured flows
Wind convection for modeling natural environments
CFD results can be imported and mapped to model geometry
along a transient RadTherm timeline

Conduction
RadTherm supports using 1D links, 2D
shell meshes, and 3D volume meshes for
accurate conduction calculations. By
using the most appropriate methods
for each model, the user gains the
maximum engineering insight
with minimal computation time.
RadTherm has many specialized
shell mesh part types, including
multi-layer parts where the user
can define up to 25 layers of
solids, air gaps, vacuum gaps, or
porous media, each having
a parametric thickness.

Boundary Condition Sets

Experienced users creating large models with hundreds
or thousands of parts can manage and document models
using RadTherms spreadsheet-style model summary
table. Boundary conditions sets can be imported from one
model to another, and applied to matching part numbers
or names.

Rapid setup

Integrated Modeling Paradigms

Thermal Links

By supporting several methods of representing both solids and

fluids, RadTherm allows the user to integrate the most suitable
paradigm for each component or sub-system. Integrating
these empirical and mechanistic models enables RadTherm to
deliver transient simulations of actual tests, such as a sequence
of hill climb, key-off, and hot soak.

Many simulations require

bringing together geometry
from various CAD or vendor
sources. RadTherms
powerful thermal links feature
allows the user to easily setup
conduction paths between
arbitrary elements, parts, or
surfaces that face each other.
Elements that are within a userdefined threshold are identified by RadTherm
and highlighted on the geometry to confirm the
correct contact patch. In the example at left, the
basketball elements highlighted in blue are in face
to face contact with the hand.

Curves & Scripts

RadTherm supports curves to
define many system variables.
Users can import curves or
generate and edit curves
directly in the GUI. Scripts and
user routines allow for querying
model data and integrating
external controls with the
overall thermal simulation.

Fluid Networks
Many systems involve liquids or gasses that play a vital role
in heat transfer and thermal management. RadTherms 1D
fluid parts and fluid stream parts provide a rapid solution to
convection within volumes and through pipes. Flow rates can
be defined via curves or managed with scripts and routines
that match real-world controls.

Layered Anisotropic Composites

Carbon fiber composites can be accurately represented using
RadTherms layered part type with anisotropic materials. The
user can easily set the preferred conduction direction of each
carbon fiber layer, yielding an accurate 3D conduction network.
The preferred direction is displayed on the mesh.

Property Databases

Programmers API
Advanced users can access the full power of RadTherm with
the TDFIO C++ API. This library allows the development of
advanced programming functions to create or modify model
settings or extract results from a model. This extends the
power of RadTherm and enables customized and integrated
solutions to be designed and implemented by our customers.

RadTherms material database includes substances with

temperature-dependent properties. Fluids, solids, transparent
solids, and anisotropic solids are
supported. These materials can be
assigned to each part in a model,
or combined to define a composite
or layered component while using
a planar mesh. A user can add/
edit materials through the user
interface. Surface conditions are
also included in the database and
define the thermal emissivity and
solar absorptivity of common
substances. The local database can
be imported, exported, or linked to
a central material database.

Natural Environments & data Reporting

Natural Environments

Solar Loading and Transparency

Many systems operate in outdoor or partially enclosed

environments and RadTherm has advanced algorithms to
calculate environmental loads. Actual or averaged weather
data is used to define local conditions. Terrain temperatures
are computed based on first principles physics to predict
soil, concrete, asphalt, or foliage temperatures. Faceted
terrain will accurately simulate solar shadowing effects and
solve for reflected solar and thermal radiation. RadTherm
can utilize weather data for wind speed and direction to
compute convection values using the wind vector and planar
orientation of each element.

When using natural environments, RadTherm computes

multi-bounce direct, diffuse, and reflected solar loading,
based on global location, altitude, cloud cover and date/
time. Transparent glass is supported to capture the
greenhouse effect through single pane, multi-pane,
or layered glass. A full energy balance is computed
on transparent layers, with reflected, absorbed, and
transmitted solar values.

Climate Chamber
Simulation
DIFFUSE

Vehicle testing in climate chambers

that mimic outdoor environments
can also be simulated in RadTherm
with environmental inputs. This
allows manufacturers to validate
their model with the controlled
test conditions of a climate
chamber before analyzing vehicle
performance at specific global
locations.

INFRARED

DIRECT

WIND
REFLECTED

Post Processing

Thermal Reports

The engineering value of

RadTherm simulations is
enhanced by providing effective
tools for communicating results
to engineers and managers.
RadTherm offers clear insight to
the root cause of hot spots or heat
management problems. More
importantly, engineers can use
RadTherm to test various solutions
and select the most cost effective
option. Transient solutions can
be animated and exported as AVI
files, along with plot graphics.
Raw data on a part- or elementlevel can be written out as CSV
files for documentation or further
computations in custom tools.

RadTherms innovative reporting feature enables the user to define the production of
specific images, plots, data exports or animations, before or after simulation. This allows
the export of matching data sets or graphics from a series of thermal models and provides
effective comparison of specific performance metrics. Report templates can be exported
and re-used in future projects.

Coupled Simulations

Linking RadTherm with Other Software

RadTherm is the choice of leading engineering teams because
it can share data as inputs and outputs, enabling co-simulation
and optimization throughout the product development cycle.

CFD Flow
Domain

Co-Simulation with 1D System Tools

RadTherm links with 1D system tools to provide 3D geometrybased radiation, conduction, and convection coupled with
parametric 1D representations of complex objects like
radiators and heat exchangers. RadTherm can be linked with
AMESim, Flowmaster , and MATLAB. Other software can be
linked using our Solver API.

Subvolume
1D Fluid Network
in RadTherm

Converting CFD Flow Data to 1D Subvolumes

Product Optimization Software

Engineers and analysts must often solve a range of problems
with a single, final designweight reduction must be balanced
with thermal performance, acoustic behavior, and prevention
of thermomechanical fatigue. RadTherm models can be
operated in batch mode by an optimization code, such as
Isight, modeFrontier, or Optimus.

CFD can effectively characterize the flow patterns and mixing

inside enclosures. An effective system approach for transient
analysis, such as AC pull-down of a hot vehicle cabin, can be
achieved by slicing the cabin domain into subvolumes and
computing mixing flow rates between regions. CFD data is used
to generate mass flow rates between the zones, and powerful
1D fluid nodes are used to solve the transient, localized air
temperatures.

Exporting to FEA for Stress/Strain

Thermal results can be exported to FEA codes to determine the
distortion and stress caused by steady or transient temperature
distributions. RadTherm exports results natively to Nastran
and Abaqus.

Coupling with CFD

RadTherm computes total system energy balance combining
one or more data sets of 3D convection data from CFD
(Computational Fluid Dynamics) software. For example, HVAC
flow data for inside a vehicle can be combined with external
flow data to compute exhaust loading to the floor pan and the
effects on passenger comfort.
Example coupled radtherm CFD process

Model Inputs & Measurements

RadTherm Transient Simulation A

CFD

CFD

CFD

RadTherm Transient Simulation B

Time

CFD

Advanced Transient Workflows

Due to thermal mass and complex heat transfer, many systems,
such as vehicle hot shut-down, need to be analyzed under long
time scale transient conditions. These systems are well-suited
to RadTherm as the primary system-level tool, but may also
require a CFD code to capture various 3D flow phenomena. As
shown in the diagram at left, advanced teams usually begin
such an analysis using RadTherms internal convection options
based on known inputs, such as flow speed. Once the initial
transient RadTherm run is completed, surface temperatures
are exported from RadTherm at various points in time and read
into a CFD code to compute pseudo-steady-state snapshots
of convective flows. Flow simulation results are then imported
back to RadTherm for a subsequent transient analysis over the
same time line. This process can be iterated, and is considered
the state-of-the-art method for a complete thermal analysis.

RadTherm

Heat Transfer Analysis Software

Human Physiology
Building upon the past decade
of research, ThermoAnalytics
has developed the most
accurate model of human
physiology available. Our
human thermal module
supports male and female
physiologies from 1st to 99th
percentile, and any body
mass index. Human models
can be situated in natural or
engineered environments, with
layered clothing applied to each
body segment. Applications
for the human thermal module
include design of clothing,
furniture/seats, HVAC,
architecture, and safety.

Sensation & Comfort

RadTherm outputs a complete temperature profile of each
human model, along with thermal sensation and comfort for
each body segment, as computed by the Berkeley Comfort
Model. Engineers can accurately develop localized heating,
cooling, or clothing designs.

Battery Module
The Battery Module performs a bidirectionally coupled
thermal-electrical analysis of a battery cell or pack and supports
both charging and discharging states to capture realistic timevarying loads and charges.
The charge state of the battery is computed over time as the
load varies with demand. Because the battery module supports
both cell and pack-level behaviors, optimization of battery cells
can be achieved by varying cell geometry, tab location, and
number of cells in a pack.
An equivalent circuit model allows rapid analysis of integrated
cooling systems and packaging into a full vehicle or subsystem
model. Virtual driving schedules can be imposed and matched
to test track global location and weather data.

ThermoAnalytics

Battery Module Applications

Validation & test method implementation
Optimized simulation process for cell & pack level studies
Cooling, insulation, & heat protection studies
Vehicle drive cycle model: heat up & cool down
Electrical drive cycle power profile

ThermoAnalytics experienced team will work with you to

develop efficient and effective solutions to your thermal
and infrared challenges. Contact us today to schedule an
engineering review of your analysis needs.

Contact Us
ThermoAnalytics, Inc.
23440 Airpark Boulevard
PO Box 66
Calumet, MI 49913 USA

P: +1 906.482.9560
F: +1 906.482.9755
info@thermoanalytics.com
www.ThermoAnalytics.com

RadTherm and ThermoAnalytics are registered trademarks of ThermoAnalytics, Inc. All other products names are trademarks of their respective owners.