Discussion Closed This discussion was created more than 6 months ago and has been closed. To start a new discussion with a link back to this one, click here.
Heating steel in an oven
Posted 4 set 2017, 11:18 GMT-4 Heat Transfer & Phase Change, Materials, Modeling Tools & Definitions, Parameters, Variables, & Functions 1 Reply
Please login with a confirmed email address before reporting spam
Hi,
I'm trying to make an, in my mind, easy model. The idea is to heat up steal in an oven of +/- 1000K.
I'm using heat transfer in solids for the metal of course, but I can't figure out how to model the air in the oven and to make clear that the heat must be transfered in the metal.
I've tried heat transfer in liquids but I can't get it working properly.
Hopefully someone knows the solution :)
I'm trying to make an, in my mind, easy model. The idea is to heat up steal in an oven of +/- 1000K.
I'm using heat transfer in solids for the metal of course, but I can't figure out how to model the air in the oven and to make clear that the heat must be transfered in the metal.
I've tried heat transfer in liquids but I can't get it working properly.
Hopefully someone knows the solution :)
1 Reply Last Post 5 set 2017, 09:14 GMT-4
Please login with a confirmed email address before reporting spam
Posted:
7 years ago
Updated:
7 years ago
Hello Demi,
There are several ways you could model this.
Two that come to mind:
- Include only the steel part in the geometry and use a convective heat flux boundary condition to represent its thermal interaction with the surrounding air.
- Also include the air domain and perform a full-fledged thermal and fluid analysis in that region, couple with heat transfer in the solid (i.e. a conjugate heat transfer analysis).
The former approach is much cheaper numerically.
Both approaches are demonstrated in the Busbar tutorial contained in the Introduction to COMSOL Multiphysics manual, accessible through File > Help > Documentation and also here: cdn.comsol.com/documentation/5.3.0.260/IntroductionToCOMSOLMultiphysics.pdf . In that tutorial, cold air is circulated around a solid to cool it down, but of course the modeling strategy would be the same if the fluid is there to heat up the solid.
Now that I've typed all this, one aspect that you'll need to consider also is radiation heat transfer, which is likely to play an important role in heating your part (In fact it could well dominate everything else). You will find tutorials for radiation heat transfer in the Application Libraries, also accessed through the File menu, including this model which is close to what you are interested in modeling albeit in reverse - a part is being cooled down rather than heated up:
www.comsol.com/model/heat-sink-with-surface-to-surface-radiation-8574
Note that surface-to-surface radiation requires the Heat Transfer Module.
Best,
Jeff
There are several ways you could model this.
Two that come to mind:
- Include only the steel part in the geometry and use a convective heat flux boundary condition to represent its thermal interaction with the surrounding air.
- Also include the air domain and perform a full-fledged thermal and fluid analysis in that region, couple with heat transfer in the solid (i.e. a conjugate heat transfer analysis).
The former approach is much cheaper numerically.
Both approaches are demonstrated in the Busbar tutorial contained in the Introduction to COMSOL Multiphysics manual, accessible through File > Help > Documentation and also here: cdn.comsol.com/documentation/5.3.0.260/IntroductionToCOMSOLMultiphysics.pdf . In that tutorial, cold air is circulated around a solid to cool it down, but of course the modeling strategy would be the same if the fluid is there to heat up the solid.
Now that I've typed all this, one aspect that you'll need to consider also is radiation heat transfer, which is likely to play an important role in heating your part (In fact it could well dominate everything else). You will find tutorials for radiation heat transfer in the Application Libraries, also accessed through the File menu, including this model which is close to what you are interested in modeling albeit in reverse - a part is being cooled down rather than heated up:
www.comsol.com/model/heat-sink-with-surface-to-surface-radiation-8574
Note that surface-to-surface radiation requires the Heat Transfer Module.
Best,
Jeff