Page 174 - Finite Element Analysis with ANSYS Workbench

Chapter

9

Heat Transfer Analysis

Heat transfer problem is one of the simplest problems
normally used to study the finite element method. This is mainly
because the heat transfer problem contains only one basic unknown
of the temperature. The temperature has a clear physical meaning
which is easy to understand.
Solving a heat transfer problem by using analytical
method in the past was difficult. Exact solution is not available if
the problem has complicated boundary conditions. The finite
element method helps alleviating such difficulty, especially when
the geometry of the problem is complicated.
In this chapter, we begins by reviewing the governing
differential and related equations of heat transfer problem. The
finite element method for analyzing the heat transfer problem is
described. Typical element equations and popular element types
are presented. ANSYS through its Workbench is then employed to
solve academic example and application problem.