Internal Heat Generation

What Does Internal Heat Generation Do?

Internal heat generation is applied to a part that will either act as a heat source or heat sink throughout the analysis. The internal heat generation is specified on a per volume basis.
The magnitude of the internal heat generation can vary with the temperature of the elements.
For the internal heat generation to be applied in the analysis, you will have to assign a Heat generation multiplier in the Multipliers tab of the Analysis Parameters dialog. This value will be multiplied by the internal heat generation and the product will be used for the internal heat generation load in the analysis.

Apply Internal Heat Generation

If you have parts selected, you can right-click in the display area and select the Add pull-out menu. Select the Heat Generation command. Specify the magnitude of the internal heat generation in the Internal Heat Generation field. A positive value will represent a heat source. A negative value will represent a heat sink.

If the internal heat generation will vary according to the temperature of the element, activate the Temperature Dependent check box and specify a curve number which will be used to control the heat generation. Then press the View / Edit Curve button and specify the internal heat generation to be used at each temperature value in a tabular format. This curve must include the entire temperature range that the surface will experience throughout the analysis. Linear interpolation will be used to define the internal heat generations at temperatures between the data points. During the element calculations the temperature values at the element integration points are used to determine the heat generation in the element.

Tip: When using temperature-dependent heat generation, the calculated heat generated can be viewed in the summary file. See the page Setting Up and Performing the Analysis: Performing the Analysis: Performing A Thermal Analysis for details.

If you are performing a transient heat transfer analysis, select the load curves that will be applied to the internal heat generation in the Load Curve field. A load curve of 0 indicates the heat generation will be constant with respect to time. Press the Curve button to define a load curve in the Load Curve Editor, or use the Setup Model Setup Parameters Analysis Parameters dialog box.