Thermal Contact

Introduction

Thermal Contact is used to model conductive heat transfer between two separate conduction bodies. This capability enables thermal coupling across interfaces where heat is transferred between adjacent solids through a prescribed thermal resistance model.

Thermal Contact can be used to represent direct solid–solid conduction, imperfect mechanical contact, thin interface materials, coatings, or reduced-order thermal connections between bodies. The resulting heat transfer depends on the temperature difference between the coupled bodies and the specified contact resistance properties.

The Thermal Contact object defines two coupled conduction regions, referred to as Body 1 and Body 2. Heat transfer is then computed across the interface connecting these bodies.

In the example below, two cylinders are in end-to-end contact. A thermal contact resistance is specified between the contacting faces. The initial temperature is 300 K. A 400 K boundary condition is applied to one end of the cylinder pair, and a 300 K boundary condition is applied to the opposite end.

Download Sample File: Thermal Contact

Heat flows from the high-temperature end toward the low-temperature end. Within each cylinder, the temperature profile decreases approximately linearly with axial position. The contact resistance produces a step decrease in temperature across the interface. The magnitude of this temperature jump is determined by the specified thermal contact resistance.

Property Grid

Bodies

Body 1

This specifies the first conduction body participating in the thermal contact model.

Body 2

This specifies the second conduction body participating in the thermal contact model.

General

Type

This defines the thermal contact model used to couple the two bodies.

Instant

This applies an idealized thermal connection between the two bodies with no explicit thermal resistance. Temperatures are coupled directly across the interface, resulting in effectively instantaneous conductive transfer.

2D

This applies a two-dimensional thermal resistance model across the contact interface. This model allows specification of interface resistance and effective conduction thickness for representing finite thermal transport between the coupled bodies. Within this model, interfacial heat flux is given by

EQUATION…

Thermal Contact Toolbar

Context-Specific Toolbar Options	Description
Help	The Help command launches the M-Star reference documentation in your web browser.

See also Child Geometry Context Specific Toolbar.

For a full description of each selection on the Context-Specific Toolbar, see Toolbar Selections.