Lecture 7:

Transient Thermal Analysis

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ANSYS Mechanical Heat Transfer

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Chapter Contents
A. Transient Theory
B. Time Stepping

C. Transient Solver Options

D. Transient Loading
E. Transient Post Processing
F. Phase Change
G. Workshop 7, Soldering Iron
H. Workshop 8, Phase Change
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A. Transient Theory
Like steady-state analyses, transient analyses may be linear or nonlinear.
If nonlinear, the same preprocessing considerations apply as with
steady-state nonlinear analysis
The most significant difference between steady-state and transient analyses
lies in the Loading and Solution procedures.
We will focus on these procedures after a brief presentation of the numerical
methods employed during transient thermal analysis.

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. . . Transient Theory
Recall the governing equation for thermal analysis of a linear system written in
matrix form. The inclusion of the heat storage term differentiates transient
systems from steady-state systems:
C T K T Q

Heat Storage Term = (Specific Heat Matrix) x (Time

Derivative of Temperature)

In a transient analysis, loads may vary with time . . .

C T K T Qt

. . . or, in the case of a nonlinear transient analysis, time AND temperature:

CT T KT T QT , t

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. . . Transient Theory
When the response of a system over time is required (due to time varying loads and/or
boundary conditions in conjunction with thermal mass effects), a Transient Analysis is
performed.

Time-Varying Response

Time-Varying Loads

Thermal energy storage effects are included in a transient solution.

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. . . Transient Theory
Time has a physical meaning
For steady-state, time is used to track loading
history
For transient, thermal mass, thermal inertia and
rate-dependence are active
You can turn off thermal inertia, or time integration effects
on a load step basis, in the Analysis Settings Details
Useful for introducing steady state solutions into the
loading history
For example, to initialize temperatures to a steady-state
solution
Uses MAPDLs TIMINT command
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. . . Transient Theory
Material Property Considerations for Transient Analyses:

In addition to thermal conductivity (k), density (r) and specific heat (c ) material
properties must be specified for entities which can conduct and store thermal energy.

These material properties are used to calculate the heat storage characteristics of each
element which are then combined in the Specific Heat Matrix [C].

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. Transient Theory, Nonlinear Formulation

Nonlinear solutions in ANSYS/Mechanical are
fundamentally based on the full Newton-Raphson
iteration procedure
For transient thermal analysis cases where conductivity
nonlinearities are mild, a Quasi Newton-Raphson
algorithm the Fast Thermal Transient Solver - is also
offered
Mechanical will use this solution option by default
Corresponds to the THOPT APDL command
The setting can be overridden in the Analysis Settings Details

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 Theory
QUASI Solver
Speeds up solution time by avoiding the reformulation of the systems
conductivity matrix for each time step or iteration
Certain physics features require full Newton-Rapshon
Highly nonlinear solutions may be more efficient with full Newton
Raphson
Two flavors:
Multipass
Iterative

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B. Time Stepping
The temperature of a transient thermal system changes continuously from instant to
instant:
T

When performing a thermal transient analysis, a time integration procedure is used to

obtain solutions to the system equations at discrete points in time. The change in time
between solutions is called the integration time step (ITS).
Generally, the smaller the
ITS, the more accurate
the solution becomes.

T
D t

tn
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tn+1

tn+2

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. . . Transient Theory
The time integration operator is modifiable and is based on generalized trapezoidal
rule:
T T (1 )Dt T Dt T
n 1

n 1

(THETHA) or Euler parameter

1.0 -- Backward Euler
0.5 -- Midpoint or Crank-Nicholson
Program selected and defaults to 1.0 for most ANSYS/Mechanical analyses
To guarantee stability, 0.5
is changed with command object to access APDLs TINTP command

OSLM, the oscillation limit will

discussed in later slides
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. . . Time Stepping
Selection of a reasonable time step size is important because of its impact on solution
accuracy and stability:

If the time step size is too small, then solution oscillations may occur which could result in
temperatures which are not physically meaningful (e.g. thermal undershoot).

If the time step is too large, then temperature gradients will not be adequately captured.
One approach is to specify a relatively conservative initial time step and allow
Automatic Time Stepping to increase the time step as needed.
The guidelines on the following slides are presented as a way to approximate a
reasonable initial time step size for use with Automatic Time Stepping.

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. . . Time Stepping
Approximating a reasonable time step size for thermal transient ANSYS use the Biot
and Fourier numbers.
The Biot Number is the dimensionless ratio of convective and conductive thermal
resistances, where D x is the mean element width, h is the average film coefficient,
and K is an averaged conductivity.
h Dx
Bi
K

The Fourier Number is a dimensionless time (Dt/t ) which quantifies the relative rates
of heat conduction vs. heat storage for an element of width D x : Where r and c are
averaged density and specific heat, respectively.

Fo

4 K Dt
rC (Dx) 2

If Bi < 1, then we use the F0 to calculate Dt. Otherwise, we use Bi F0 to calculate Dt.
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. . . Time Stepping
For example reasonable time step size for thermal transient analyses
dominated by conduction can be approximated using the Fourier
modulus:

Fo

Where:

t
x
K

is ITS time step

is the average element length
is the average thermal conductivity
is average density
is average specific heat

Dx 2 rc
Dt
4K

A suggested minimum integration time step (ITS):

If t is 100 times the ITS suggestion, ANSYS issues a warning.

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4 K Dt
rC (Dx) 2

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. . . Time Stepping
To help evaluate the accuracy of the time integration algorithm, ANSYS
computes and reports some helpful quantities after every solution:
The Response Eigenvalue represents the dominant system eigenvalue for the
most recent time step solution (reported in Solution information). Can be
viewed as a Fourier Number for the discretized system
The Oscillation Limit is a dimensionless quantity that is simply the product of
the Response Eigenvalue and the current time step size (reported in Solution
information).

DTT K DT
r
DTT C DT
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It is typically desirable to maintain the oscillation limit below 0.5 to

ensure that the transient response of the system is being
adequately characterized.

f Dtnr
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. . . Time Stepping
Time step metrics can be viewed in the Solution Information.
By default, the Automatic Time Stepping (ATS) feature bases time
step prediction on the Oscillation Limit. ATS seeks to maintain the
Oscillation Limit below 0.5 within a tolerance, and will adjust the
ITS to satisfy this criterion.

Notice how ATS gradually

reduces the ITS based on
the Oscillation Limit. This
sample was taken from the
ANSYS Output Window
during a nonlinear
transient analysis.

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. . . Automatic Time Stepping

Factors that influence the automatic time stepping algorithm

Rate of convergence
Limits on time step size set by user
Minimum recommended time step
Oscillation limit (eigenvalue) calculation

Typically, an analyst will have good experience regarding the appropriate

time step size for the problem class

If not, a transient time step size convergence study may prove useful
Analogous to a mesh convergence studies that are used to determine
when spatial discretization is sufficiently accurate.
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C. Transient Loading
While loads can be applied as constants in transient analyses, often they
vary with time.

In Mechanical, thermal loads can be defined as constants, tables or

functions.
Recall that in chapter 3 we outlined non-constant loading. Here we will
illustrate using specific examples.
Table Loads
Function Loads

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. . . Transient Loading
Example 1: the heating coil experiences joule heating as power
is cycled on and off at 1 second intervals:

Notice in the table a small time increment is used to ramp the load

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on and off quickly, simulating a step function.

Each new time point must increase in value.

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. . . Transient Loading
Example 2: the same heating coil undergoes sinusoidal
loading according to the function
(0.1+(0.1*sin(180*time))):

Notice the table

is populated by
evaluating the
function at 200
equally spaced
time points.

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Initial Conditions

In addition to time varying loads and thermal boundary conditions,

transient problems always have an initial condition.

The simplest initial conditions is a homogenous /uniform

temperature field.

It is also possible to map an imported (or self-imported solution)

spatially varying temperature field to an initial condition or time
varying temperature constraint.

As mentioned in an earlier slide, you can turn off time integration

effects in order to use a steady-state load step to provide a initial
temperature field

External Data Application

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E. Transient Post Processing

Post processing transient results is done by requesting results from particular time points:

RMB on the graph or table at the desired time point and choose Retrieve This Result.
OR
Enter the desired time in the details for a result and RMB Retrieve This Result.

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. . . Transient Post Processing

Often the desired quantity is the result variation over
time at a point rather than a contour of the overall
model.

A graph is useful in displaying results vs. time.

Here a temperature probe is scoped to a local

coordinate system and the temperature variation
is plotted in the graph area.

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F. Phase Change
Phase Change - A change of energy to a system (either added or taken away)
causes a substance to change phase

The Common phase change processes are called freezing, melting, vaporization, or
condensation

Phase - A distinct molecular structure of a substance, homogeneous throughout

There are three principal phases:

Solid

Liquid

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Gas

Enthalpy,H , is related to density ( r ), specific heat (c),

. . . Phase Change

and temperature (T ) according to :

H r cdT

Latent Heat:

When a substance changes phase, the temperature remains constant or

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nearly constant throughout the change.

For example, solid ice at 0 C is ready to melt:
Heat is added to the ice and it becomes liquid water.
When the ice has just become completely liquid, it is still 0 C.
Where did the heat energy go, if there was no temperature change?
The heat energy is absorbed by changes in the molecular structure
of the substance.
The energy required for the substance to change phase is called
its latent heat.
A phase change analysis must account for the latent heat of the material.
Latent heat is related using the enthalpy property which varies with
temperature. Therefore, a thermal phase change analysis is non-linear.

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. . . Phase Change
During phase change, a small temperature range exists where both the
solid and liquid phases exist together.

The temperature at which the substance is completely liquid (the

liquidus temperature) is TL.

The temperature at which the substance is completely solid (the solidus
temperature) is TS.
T = Solid Temperature
S

TL = Liquid Temperature

A Change of Phase is
Indicated by a Rapid
Variation in Enthalpy
with Respect to
Temperature.

Note: In this diagram, TL -TS is small. For a

pure material, TL -TS would be zero.

H, Latent Heat

TS
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TL
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T
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. . . Phase Change
Applications involving phase change which can be approached using ANSYS Mechanical
products are:

The freezing (or solidification) of a liquid.

The melting of a solid.
A phase change analysis must be solved as a thermal transient analysis.
Phase change analysis setup:

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Transient analysis type

A small initial and minimum time step sizes.
Use automatic time stepping.
Generally the Line Search solution option is preferred.
ANSYS enthalpy data (material property) must be specified in units of energy/volume.
Full Newton-Raphson solution algorithm
Set time integration parameter, , to 0.5
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. . . Phase Change
Enthalpy Definitions/Calculations (reference):

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Equations 1 through 7 can be used to calculate enthalpy values to enter as material properties
1. Cavg = (CS + CL)/2
: Average specific heat
2. C* = Cavg + (L / (TL TS))
: Specific heat for transition
3. H- = p*C (T T0)
: Enthalpy below solid temperature
4. HS = p CS (TS T0)
: Enthalpy at solid temperature
5. HTR = HS + pC (TL TS)
: Enthalpy between solid/liquid temperatures
6. HL = HS + pC* (TL TS)
: Enthalpy at liquid temperature
7. H+ = HL + pCL (T TL)
: Enthalpy above liquid temperature
CS: specific heat of solid
CL: specific heat of liquid
P: density
TS: solidus temperature
TL: liquidus temperature
L: latent heat
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Enthalpy Curve in ANSYS/Mechanical

Essential Steps for phase change analysis with
ANSYS/Mechanical

1. Define Enthalpy Curve in Engineering Data

If enthalpy is defined then specific heat properties are
ignored during solution.

2. Activate Full Newton-Raphson as transient thermal

solution option
If transient thermal solver option defaults to the fast
thermal transient option - the QUASI algorithm - then
enthalpy will be ignored

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Transient Analysis Workshops:

Workshop 7 Soldering Iron
Workshop 8 Phase Change

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