Chapter 57: Heating and Convection on a Plate for Heat Exchanger

Heating and Convection on a

57 Plate


Summary 1132

Introduction 1133

Modeling Details 1133

Solution Highlights 1134

Results 1141

Modeling Tips 1142

Input File(s) 1142

Video 1142
1132 MD Demonstration Problems
CHAPTER 57

Summary
Title Chapter 57: Heating and convection on a plate
Features MD Nastran SOL 400: RCNS, RCNT, HSTAT, HTRAN
Geometry and Boundary Heat Flux: 500 W/m2 Convection to T = 25oC
Conditions

1 m x 1 m x 0.001 m

Aluminum: Thermal conductivity (K)= 167 W/m/°C, Specific heat (Cp) = 880 W/Kg/°C,
Material properties
Density(ρ) = 2700 Kg/m³
Analysis characteristics MD Nastran SOL 400: RCNS, RCNT, HSTAT, HTRAN
Element type CQUAD4 for surface
Numerical results Temperature results:
 CHAPTER 57 1133
Heating and Convection on a Plate

Introduction
This problem demonstrates the applications of MD Nastran SOL 400 Thermal Solver (RCNS, RCNT, HSTAT, and
HTRAN).

Modeling Details
This problem introduces the basic steps to use MD Nastran SOL 400 Thermal Solver (RCNS, RCNT, HSTAT, and
HTRAN) by a simple rectangular surface model. In this problem, you will see how to change the cards to run different
solvers. This model has only one Quad element. A constant heat flux load is imposed onto the surface while cooling
the surface with uniform convection to a constant ambient temperature. Then you will analyze the model by running
different solvers for both steady and transient analysis. You will see how easy to switch between RC Network Solver
and FEM solver.
Surface Dimension = 1.0 m x 1.0 m x 0.001 m
Normal Heat Flux = 500 W/m²
Ambient Temperature = 25ºC
The material is Aluminum 6061 T6
Thermal Conductivity = 167 W/m.K
Specific Heat = 880 W/Kg
Density = 2700 Kg/m³
Top Surface Convection Coefficient = 6.5

Heat Flux: 500 W/m2 Convection to T = 25oC

1 m x 1 m x 0.001 m

Figure 57-1 Heating and Convection on a Plate

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CHAPTER 57

Solution Highlights
The BDF files are pretty much similar, except some cards change in the Case Control Section and Bulk Data Post
Section. The main part of the BDF file is exactly the same.

MD Nastran SOL 400 RC Network Solver: RCNS (Steady State)

$# Case Control Section
TEMPERATURE (INITIAL)= 21
SUBCASE 1
$ Subcase name : NewLoadcase_RCNS
$LBCSET SUBCASE1 DefaultLBCSet
TITLE=NewLoadcase_RCNS
THERMAL(SORT1,PRINT)=ALL
ANALYSIS = RCNS
NLSTEP = 1
SPC = 23
LOAD = 24
……
$# Bulk Data Post Section
TEMPD 21 0.0
SPCADD 23 2
DLOAD 24 1. 1. 1
NLSTEP 1
+ RCHEAT SNSOR 0.001 0.001 0.0 0.0 9.81
+ 5000
……

MD Nastran SOL 400 FEM Solver: HSTAT (Steady State)

$# Case Control Section
TEMPERATURE (INITIAL)= 21
SUBCASE 1
$ Subcase name : NewLoadcase_RCNS
$LBCSET SUBCASE1 DefaultLBCSet
TITLE=NewLoadcase
THERMAL(SORT1,PRINT)=ALL
ANALYSIS = HSTAT
SPC = 23
LOAD = 24
NLSTEP = 1
……
$# Bulk Data Post Section
TEMPD 21 0.0
SPCADD 23 2
LOAD 24 1. 1. 1
NLSTEP 1
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Heating and Convection on a Plate

As you can see, if you have a BDF file for RCNS, or HSTAT, it is very easy to manually modify the files to run with
another solver. The NLSTEP entry for RC Network Solver has more control parameters, but actually most of them are
default parameters. The minimum requirement is as follows:
$# Bulk Data Post Section
TEMPD 21 0.0
SPCADD 23 2
LOAD 24 1. 1. 1
NLSTEP 1
+ RCHEAT

MD NASTRAN SOL 400 RC Network Solver: RCNT (Transient)

$# Case Control Section
IC = 21
SUBCASE 1
$ Subcase name : NewLoadcase_RCNT
$LBCSET SUBCASE1 DefaultLBCSet
TITLE=NewLoadcase_RCNT
THERMAL(SORT1,PRINT)=ALL
ANALYSIS = RCNT
NLSTEP = 1
SPC = 23
DLOAD = 24
……
$# Bulk Data Post Section
TEMPD 21 0.0
SPCADD 23 2
DLOAD 24 1. 1. 1
NLSTEP 1 2400.
+ RCHEAT FWDBKL 0.001 0.001 0.0 0.0 9.81 1.
+ 5000 100 0.0

MD NASTRAN SOL 400 FEM Solver: HTRAN (Transient)

$# Case Control Section
IC = 21
SUBCASE 1
$ Subcase name : NewLoadcase_NTTR
$LBCSET SUBCASE1 DefaultLBCSet
TITLE=NewLoadcase_NTTR
THERMAL(SORT1,PRINT)=ALL
ANALYSIS = HTRAN
SPC = 23
DLOAD = 24
NLSTEP = 1
……
$# Bulk Data Post Section
TEMPD 21 0.0
SPCADD 23 4
DLOAD 24 1. 1. 1 1. 2
NLSTEP 1 2400.
+ ADAPT 100
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It is also easy to manually modify the files to switch to another solver. The NLSTEP entry for RC Network Solver has
more control parameters, but again most of them are default parameters. The minimum requirement is as follows:
$# Bulk Data Post Section
TEMPD 21 0.0
SPCADD 23 2
DLOAD 24 1. 1. 1
NLSTEP 1 2400.
+ RCHEAT FWDBKL
+ 100.
 CHAPTER 57 1137
Heating and Convection on a Plate

NLSTEP Control Parameters for Mechanical, Thermal, and Coupled Analysis

(MD Nastran SOL 400 only)

NLSTEP specifies the convergence criteria, step size control between coupled loops and step/iteration control for each
physics loop in MD Nastran SOL 400. Additional fields were included in this pre-existing entry to provide control for
Resistance-Capacitor method of Heat Transfer Analysis.

Format
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
NLSTEP ID TOTTIME +
“GENERAL” MAXITER MINITER MAXBIS CREEP +
+ “FIXED” NINC NO +
+ “ADAPT” DTINITF DTMINF DTMAXF NDESIR SFACT INTOUT NSMAX +
+ ... +
“RCHEAT” SOLVER DRLXCA ARLXCA BALENG DAMPC GRVCON CSGFAC +
+ NRLOOP OUTINV DTIMEI

Example: Steady State

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
NLSTEP 1 +
+ RCHEAT SNSOR 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.0 0.0 9.81 +
+ 5000

Example: Transient
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
NLSTEP 1 1000 +
+ RCHEAT SNDUFR 0.001 0.001 0.0 0.0 9.81 1.0 +
+ 5000 100.0 10.0

Field Contents Type Default

ID Identification number. I0
TOTIM Total time for the load case R 1.0
“GENERAL” Keyword for parameters used for overall analysis.
... ...
“COUP” Keyword for parameters used for coupled analysis.
“RCHEAT” Keyword to indicate that RC Heat Transfer Analysis is
to be performed. See Remark 10.
SOLVER The Relaxation scheme to be used. C SNSOR - See Remark 12.
DRLXCA Diffusion node convergence criterion. R0 1.0e-3 - See Remark 11.
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Field Contents Type Default

ARLXCA Arithmetic node convergence criterion. R  0.0 1.e-3 - See Remark 11.
BALENG Allowable system energy imbalance. R  0.0 1.0e-3° - See Remark 11.
DAMPC Damping constant. R  0.0 0.0 nondimensional
GRVCON Gravitation constant. R  0.0 9.81 length/time2.
CSGFAC Time step control factor. R  0.0 1.0 non dimensional. See
Remark 13.
NRLOOP Number of relaxation loops allowed. I0 5000 loop
OUTINV Output interval. R  0.0 60.0 time. See Remark 13.
DTIMEI Time step. R  0.0 0.0 time. See Remark 13.

Remarks
1. Only one of FIXED, ADAPT, or ARCLN load time stepping scheme can be used on a specific NLSTEP entry.
FIXED or ADAPT may be used for a single physics STEP or for a coupled physics STEP/SUBSTEP. ARCLN is
only valid for a single physics STEP. If no FIXED, ADAPT, or ARCLN appear on a NLSTEP entry, then the default
is FIXED, with 50 increments.
2. The desired number of recycles is only used in static mechanical and heat transfer, not in dynamic mechanical.
In a coupled analysis, the time step change is calculated separately for heat and mechanica,l and the smallest
of the two is used.
3. When the time step is increased due to desired number of recycles, the previous time step is multiplied with
SFACT. When the time step is decreased, the factor is calculated internally based upon the minimum time step.
4. User criteria can be given in the TABSCTL entry via CRITTID. These criteria include rotation, displacements,
stresses, strains, creep strains. The time step is decreased if the current value of the value is larger than the user
specified limit. If LIMTAR is equal to 1 (“target”), it also increases the time step for the next increment if the
current value is smaller than the target value given.
5. If MAXITER is given a negative value and the MAXITER number of iterations are obtained, convergence is
assumed and the analysis will continue with the next increment.
6. The “ARCLN” entry is applicable to “MECH” analysis only and is ignored for creep analysis. The available
constraint types are as follows.
TYPE = “CRIS”:
i O T i O 2
 U n – U n   U n – U n  + w 2   i –  O 2 = l n
TYPE = “RIKS”:
i i–1 T i O
 Un – Un   U n – U n  + w 2  i = 0
TYPE = “MRIKS”:
i i–1 T i–1 O
 Un – Un   Un – U n  + w 2  i   i – 1 –  O  = 0

where:
 CHAPTER 57 1139
Heating and Convection on a Plate

w = user specified scaling factor (SCALEA)

 = load factor
l = the arc-length

The constraint equation has a disparity in the dimension by mixing the displacements with the load factor. The
scaling factor is introduced as user input so that the user can make constraint equation unit-dependent by a
proper scaling of the load factor ( w ). As the value of is increased, the constraint equation is gradually
dominated by the load term. In the limiting case of infinite, the arc-length method is degenerated to the
conventional Newton’s method.
7. The MINALR and MAXALR fields are used to limit the adjustment of the arc-length from one increment to the
next by:
MINALR  l new  l old  MAXALR

The arc-length adjustment is based on the convergence rate (i.e., number of iterations required for convergence)
and the change in stiffness. For constant arc-length during analysis, use:
MINALR = MAXALR = 1 MIMAR = MAZALR = 1
8. The arc-length l for the variable arc-length strategy is adjusted based on the number of iterations that were
required for convergence in the previous increment ( I max ) and the number of iterations desired for convergence
in the current increment (NDESIRA) as follows:
l new = l old  NDESIRA  I max 1  2
9. If a negative value is given to MAXCLP, the coupled analysis will proceed to the next increment even if the
coupled loop has not converged when the maximum number of coupled loops, |MAXCLP|, has been reached.
10. This entry is used for a nonfinite element, Resistance-Capacitor network method of analysis for heat transfer.
11. Convergence is determined by the combination of DRLXCA, ARLXCA, and BALENG. DRLXCA and ARLXCA
determine if relaxation is met on a node by node basis, rather than a residual vector length.
12. If, in Case Control, the ANALYSIS=RCNS, then valid values are:

SNSOR (Default) Successive over-relaxation method

SSQMR Steady state Quasi Minimal Residual method
SSSPM Steady state sparse matrix solver method
STDSTL An iterative solver aimed at the fourth root of a quartic for the network equations
(good for strong radiation dependence)

If, in Case Control, the ANALYSIS=RCNT, then valid values are:

SNDUFR (Recommended) An unconditionally stable, explicit method based on a modified Dufort-Frankel

scheme
SNFRDL Fast, accurate explicit forward differencing transient method
FWDBKL Implicit forward/backward differencing Crank Nicolson method
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CHAPTER 57

SNADE Alternating direction explicit method

ATSDUF SNDUFR with automatic time step based on ERRMIN/ERRMAX
ATSFBK FWDBKL with automatic time step based on ERRMIN/ERRMAX
SNTSM Weighted implicit forward/backward differencing method
SNTSM3 Weighted implicit forward/backward differencing method
SNTSM1 Weighted implicit forward/backward differencing method
SNTSM4 Weighted implicit forward/backward differencing method
TRSPM Transient sparse matrix solver method
ATSSPM TRSPM with automatic time step based on ERRMIN/ERRMAX
TRQMR Transient Quasi Minimal Residual
ATSQMR TRQMR with automatic time step based on ERRMIN/ERRMAX

If SOLVER is left blank or set to SNSOR and ANALYSIS=RCNT, then internally the RC code will select SNDUFR.
13. About the time step:
a. The default computed time step (DTIMEU) = CSGMIN* CSGFAC. CSGMIN is based on the conductance in
the model and can be checked in the .sot file. If CSGFAC is not specified, it is internally set to 1.0.
b. In a normal sized model, CSGMIN is usually small enough for the time step which will assure a convergent
transient run.
c. CSGFAC is used to adjust the time step. It is recommended to determine the best CSGFAC to the model while
maintaining acceptable temperature errors.
d. If OUTPUT < CSGFAC*CSGMIN or OUTPUT < DTIMEI, then OUTPUT becomes the time step. All the
OUTPUT points are automatically required to be calculated.
e. DTIMEI is the forced time step which will ignore any other factors. Sometimes it may lead to inaccurate
answer if it is too large. DTIMEI does not affect the automatic time step solvers.
f. If the model size is very small, CSGMIN may be too big for the time step. A small CSGFAC or DTIMEI should
be used to adjust the time step.
g. CSGFAC*CSGMIN or DTIMEI should be small enough to “catch” any details in time fields, temperature
fields, or orbital flux arrays.
 CHAPTER 57 1141
Heating and Convection on a Plate

Results

Figure 57-2 Temperature Contour of Plate (Steady State)

Figure 57-3 Temperature Curves of Plate (Transient State)

1142 MD Demonstration Problems
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RCNS and HSTAT have the same steady state result. RCNT and HTRAN have the same transient temperature curves. These
curves are drawn in SimXpert/Result/Chart. The curves from RCNT/FWDBKL and HTRAN fit perfectly. The total time
(end tine) is 2400 seconds. The output interval is 100 seconds.

Modeling Tips
SimXpert uses ATSDUF as the default solver, and Sinda for Patran uses SNDUFR as the default solver. RC Network
Solver has other solvers available. For this specific model which has only one element and the thickness is very thin,
therefore CSGMIN is very small (CSGMIN is the minimum value of CSG for each node in the model. CSG = C   Gi ,
where C is the capacitance, and Gi is the conductors for this node), a very small time step will be required. We need
to set up some control parameters for ATSDUF or SNDUFR to make sure they have small enough time step to start
the transient analysis. For more information, please reference the MSC Sinda User's Guide or Sinda for Patran User's
Guide. The solver FWDBKL is an implicit solver which does not have this problem. FWKBKL is one of the implicit
transient solvers of RC Network Solver.

Input File(s)
Files Description
QT34_conv_rcns.dat MD Nastran SOL400/RC Network Solver thermal input file
QT34_conv_ntss.dat MD Nastran SOL400/FEM Solver thermal input file
QT34_conv_rcnt.dat MD Nastran SOL400/RC Network Solver thermal input file
QT34_conv_nttr.dat MD Nastran SOL400/FEM Solver thermal input file

Video
Click on the image or caption below to view a streaming video of this problem; it lasts approximately 30 minutes and
explains how the steps are performed.

Heat Flux: 500 W/m2 Convection to T = 25oC

1 m x 1 m x 0.001 m

Figure 57-4 Video of the Above Steps