Getting started with static thermal simulation

Hi there

I'm pretty new to FEA and CAElinux, but well versed in 2d and 3d CAD. I work in the construction industry and want to find a good way to do a simple comparison of the thermal properties between several options for a construction around a window.

I'm a bit stuck on how to get started. Does anyone have a suggestion for the way forward, I've had trouble getting going with Salome and are a bit unsure what format I need to import into something to do the analysis.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers, Duncan

Duncan,
a way to start: I would reccomand You to use the search function of this forum, searching for "thermal". There are lots of examples, for example:
caelinux.com/CMS/index.php?option=com_jo...&catid=5#msg3659

Of course not everything is ready to run, but You can learn a lot. And then ask more in detail referred to an example.

Good success, regards,
Johannes Ackva
______________________________________________________________________
Ingenieurbüro für Mechanik
Dr.-Ing. Johannes Ackva
Markgrafenstr. 21
D 91717 Wassertrüdingen

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I'm a little bit in your same boat, but I've been working on CFD problems instead of thermal. I've been having alot of luck with drawing my geometries in the CAD package I'm most familiar with (SolidWorks) and saving as a STEP file to import into Salome. The only trouble I've had with that is that sometimes SolidWorks will go back and forth on the case of the letters in the file extension while Linux is definitely case sensitive.`

Hi. I'm not a user of Solid Works but I know a bit about file system file naming compatibility. Try and have a mixture of upper and lower case characters in the file name. That usually is enough for the windows file system to stop switching their case (assuming you haven't already tried this and you're taking file from a windows environment to a *nix environment).

Otherwise I suggest you find or start a thread specific to this problem. You're probably not the first.

Hi Duncan,
I found this on a forum for a transient thermal analysis with a 3D-model. I hope it is useful,

Johannes Ackva
___________________________________________________________________
Ingenieurbüro für Mechanik
Dr.-Ing. Johannes Ackva
Markgrafenstr. 21
D 91717 Wassertrüdingen

___________________________________________________________________
next CODE-ASTER-courses organized by Ingenieurbüro für Mechanik

*** SALOME and CODE-ASTER for beginners and nearly-beginners
4 days, 30th Nov - Sat 3rd Dec 2011

*** DYNAMIC ANALYSIS WITH CODE-ASTER
2 days, Thursday 26th to Friday 27th 2012

www.code-aster.de
___________________________________________________________________









DEBUT();

TIME=DEFI_LIST_REEL(DEBUT=0.0,
INTERVALLE=(_F(JUSQU_A=0.0001,
PAS=2e-05,),
_F(JUSQU_A=0.001,
PAS=0.0001,),
_F(JUSQU_A=0.01,
PAS=0.001,),
_F(JUSQU_A=0.1,
PAS=0.01,),
_F(JUSQU_A=1.0,
PAS=0.1,),
_F(JUSQU_A=10.0,
PAS=1.0,),),);

MESH=LIRE_MAILLAGE(UNITE=20,
FORMAT='MED',);

MAT1=DEFI_MATERIAU(THER=_F(LAMBDA=134.0,
RHO_CP=1600000.0,),);

MODEL=AFFE_MODELE(MAILLAGE=MESH,
AFFE=_F(TOUT='OUI',
PHENOMENE='THERMIQUE',
MODELISATION='3D',),);

MATFIELD=AFFE_MATERIAU(MAILLAGE=MESH,
AFFE=_F(TOUT='OUI',
MATER=MAT1,),);

LOADING=AFFE_CHAR_THER(MODELE=MODEL,
FLUX_REP=_F(GROUP_MA='Sup2',
FLUN=419304.0,),
ECHANGE=_F(GROUP_MA='Inf1',
COEF_H=1000.0,
TEMP_EXT=0.0,),);

TEMP=THER_LINEAIRE(MODELE=MODEL,
CHAM_MATER=MATFIELD,
EXCIT=_F(CHARGE=LOADING,),
INCREMENT=_F(LIST_INST=TIME,),
ETAT_INIT=_F(VALE=0.0,),);

IMPR_RESU(FORMAT='MED',
RESU=_F(RESULTAT=TEMP,),);

FIN();

Hi ackva

I assume that's some code for importing a model and handling the post processing. I freely admit that I'm looking for a GUI for this simulation - it's not feasible for me to learn the syntax of some scripting language when there are commercial packages that can do the whole operation graphically. Sadly the Salome 3D CAD package isn't packaged for Ubuntu 11.10 so I haven't even solved the first step which is making the model in the right format... I'll have to look into compiling Salome for my machine.

Thanks for the help though.