Chapter 2: Getting Started

Patran Thermal Users Guide Volume 1: Thermal/Hydraulic Analysis

Getting Started

Objectives

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Model Description

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Patran Thermal Users Guide Volume 1: Thermal/Hydraulic Analysis

Objectives

Objectives
This getting started tutorial goes through the basic steps in creating a Patran Thermal model, submitting
the analysis, and visualizing the results.
Build a two-dimensional thermal model in Patran (Geometry and Finite Elements).
Apply temperature, heat flux, nodal heat source, and convective boundary conditions.
Apply elements properties.
Create a run-ready analysis deck and spawn a thermal batch job.

Postprocess the results.

Important: For more information about module operation, with step-by-step instructions for various
types of thermal applications, see Reference Notes, 131.

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Model Description

Model Description
In this exercise you will determine the steady-state temperature distribution in a 1m by 1m Aluminum
slab. The slab will be modeled in two dimensions. The loads and boundary conditions you will apply to
the model are shown in the figure below
.

Exercise Procedure
Accessing Patran

Step 1: In your xterm window, type patran to start Patran.

You should see various status messages being printed in the xterm window. After a short time,
the following Patran main form will appear.

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Model Description

Initially, all selections within the main form are ghosted except the File selection. Typically
when an option does not pertain to the task you are performing, Patran ghosts that selection to
make it easier for you to choose the viable options. For example, move the cursor to the File
selection in the main form and click the left mouse button. In the pull-down menu that appears
(also shown below), the operations that do not pertain to manipulating databases are ghosted,
since the first thing you must do when starting Patran is access a database.

Next, select New from the pull-down menu.

To create a new database, type the name exercise_1.db under New Database Name, and click
OK. In a short time, you should see your graphics viewport open.

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Model Description

Lets stop for a moment to discuss the icons located in the main form. Notice the Patran
Heartbeat in the upper right-hand corner of the main form.

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Model Description

The Heartbeat changes color to inform the user of Patrans status.

If the Heartbeat is green, Patran is waiting for you to enter a command.
If the Heartbeat is blue, Patran is busy with an operation, but it can be interrupted by clicking
on the Patran Hand. The operation of the Hand is similar to control C (interrupt task).

If the Heartbeat is red, Patran is busy with an operation and cannot be interrupted. Typing or
mouse selections at this time will be ignored.
There are two more buttons in the upper right-hand corner of the main form. One is the Refresh
button (the paint brush) and the other is the Undo button (the eraser).

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Model Description

The Refresh button repaints the model. After you delete something from the viewport
or pull menus over the viewport, the model might need repainting. If it does, press the
Refresh icon.
The Undo button can be used to undo most commands. Only the previous operation
can be undone by the Undo button.
The Interrupt button is used to stop Patran from completing the process in which it is
working. You can only use it when the heartbeat is blue. It will ask you to confirm the
interruption.
Step 2: After the database is opened, a New Model Preferences form will appear. Select the Default
Tolerance and change the Analysis Code to Patran Thermal. The completed form is shown
below for your reference.

Click on the OK button to close that form.

Selecting Patran Thermal causes Patran to customize the user interface forms to include
terminology pertaining to the Patran Thermal code.
Step 3: You will now create a patch that will represent the geometry of the plate. Click on the Geometry
toggle in the main form. When the Geometry form appears, set it to Create, Surface, and XYZ.

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Model Description

The forms default settings will create a 1 x 1 patch at the default global coordinate origin. Click
on Apply to create the patch. Your Geometry form and patch model should now look like the
ones shown below.

To turn on labels click on the Show Label icon. Use the Label Control icon to select specific
labels.
The number of geometric display lines can be changed on the Display -> Geometry and
specifying the number of lines desired.
Step 4: To create the finite element model, click on the Elements toggle in the main form. Set the
Action, Object, and Type pull-down options to Create, Mesh, and Surface. To mesh the patch
with a 5x5 mesh density (i.e., 4x4 elements), change the Global Edge Length to 0.25.
Select the Quad4 Element Topology. Since the patch you have created has four sides, choose
IsoMesh Mesher option.
When a surface has more than 4 edges, you must use the Paver Mesher option or you can
decompose the n-sided surface into subsurfaces containing no more than 4 edges and use the
IsoMesher.

Chapter 2: Getting Started 21

Model Description

Click in the Surface List databox at the bottom of the Finite Elements form. Select Surface 1
and click on Apply to create the finite element mesh. Your completed Finite Elements form and
model should look like the ones shown below. Node 999 is created later.

Step 5: You will now define the models Element Properties. Click on the Properties toggle in the main
form.
When the Element Properties form appears set the Action, Dimension, and Type option menus,
to Create, 2D, and Thermal 2D. Enter the Property Set Name, Prop1.
Next, click on the Input Properties button. When the Input Properties form appears, you will
see the Material Name, Material Orientation-X, Material Orientation-Y, and Material
Orientation-Z databoxes. For this exercise, you will use the Patran Thermal material database.
Aluminum is the first material that occurs in the database (Material ID, MID=1). To use the
Aluminum Material, type 1 in the Material Name databox. The material is isotropic; therefore,
no directional data (material orientation angles) will be input to the form. The Element
Properties and Input Properties forms are shown below for your reference.

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Model Description

Click on the OK button to close the Input Properties form.

You will now apply the element properties to your model. Click the Select Members listbox. At
the bottom of the screen, a select menu will appear. The icons represent selection filters that
allow you to assign the element properties to the geometry (left icon) or the finite elements
(right icon). Since the Dimension is set to 2D, you can select a surface or face of a solid if you
apply the properties to the geometry, or surface elements (e.g., triangle, quad) if you apply the
properties to the finite element model (FEM). Select Surface 1 with mouse and click on the Add
button to add this surface as the chosen application region.

Chapter 2: Getting Started 23

Model Description

Click on the Apply button to create and assign the Element Properties to the model.
Step 6: In this step you will create a finite element node, next to, but not on your model. The node will
represent the models surrounding environment. In a later step, you will assign the
environmental (ambient) temperature to the node. This temperature is needed for the convective
film coefficient definition. Click on the Elements toggle in the main form. Set the Action,
Object, and Type option menus to Create, Node, and Edit. Change the Node ID List to 999.
This number is the ID of the next node to be created.

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Model Description

Next, set the Associate with Geometry button off and click in the Node Location List databox.
In the select menu, highlight the right most icon, which allows you to select an arbitrary screen
position. Click in the graphics window at a position, next to, but not on the model to specify the
position of Node 999. Click on the Apply button to create the node. The completed Finite
Element form and model are shown below for your reference.

Chapter 2: Getting Started 25

Model Description

Step 7: You will now assign the thermal boundary conditions for the model.

Temperature Boundary Conditions

Click on the Loads/BCs toggle in the main form. When the Loads/Boundary Conditions form appears
set the Action, Object and Type, respectively to Create, Temperature (P/Thermal), and Nodal. Set the
Option menu to Fixed.
Enter Temp1 as the New Set Name for this boundary condition. Click on the Input Data button, enter a
temperature of 300. The completed Input Data form is shown below.

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Model Description

Click on the OK button to close the form. Next, click on the Select Application Region button. When
the Select Application Region form appears, set the Geometry Filter to Geometry and click in the Select
Geometry Entities databox. In the select menu, highlight the curve icon since you will now apply the
temperature to the left vertical edge of the patch. Click on the left vertical edge of the patch and Surface
1.1 will appear in the Select Geometry Entities box. Add this selection to the Application Region box.
The completed form is shown below.

Chapter 2: Getting Started 27

Model Description

Click on the OK button to close the form. Click on the Apply button to create the temperature boundary
condition. Your model should now look similar to the one below.

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Model Description

To apply the ambient temperature to Node 999, create a new temperature set named Temp2 with the
Option menu again set to Fixed. Enter a temperature of 300 in the Input Data form and click on the OK
button. In the Select Application Region, choose the FEM Geometry Filter. Click in the Select Nodes
databox and select Node 999 in the viewport. Add this node to the Application Region and click on the
OK button. The completed forms are shown below for your reference.

Chapter 2: Getting Started 29

Model Description

Finally, click on the Apply button in the Loads/Boundary Conditions form to create the second
temperature boundary condition.

Nodal Heat Source Boundary Condition

Change the Object pull-down menu on the Loads/Boundary Conditions form to Heating (PThermal).
Change the Option menu to Nodal Source. Enter a New Set Name, Nodal_Heat, and input 1000 for the
heat source value. Do not input a value for the Template ID. This value is used to identify a user-defined
macro function that can be used to define a varying heat source. Assign the heat source to the center node
of your model (Node 13). The completed forms are shown below for your reference. Click the Apply
button to create the boundary condition.

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Model Description

Convective Heat Transfer Boundary Condition

Set the Object and Type option menus on the LoadsBoundary Conditions form to Convection (Patran
Thermal) and Element Uniform. Set the Option menu to Use Correlations. Enter the New Set Name,
Convection, and change the Target Element Type to 2D. Click on the Input Data button and enter 13.5
for the Convection Coefficient and specify the Fluid Node ID as Node 999. Click on the OK button to
close the Input Data form. Next, click on the Select Application Region button, set the Geometry Filter
to Geometry and highlight the edge icon. Apply the convection boundary condition to the right vertical
edge (Edge 3) of the surface. The completed forms are shown below for your reference.

Chapter 2: Getting Started 31

Model Description

Step 8: You are now finished defining your analysis model. In this step, you will submit the job for
analysis.
Click on the Analysis toggle on the main form. In the Analysis form that appears. The job name
is assigned the database name and the job description references the session file used to create
the model at the time of construction. Go ahead and change these to something more meaningful
if desired. Click on the Translation Parameters button. The following Patran Thermal
Translation Parameters form will appear.

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The default model dimensionality is 2D and the file to extract undefined materials is
mpidmks.bin. To use these default settings, click on the OK button at the bottom of the form.
You will also use the default setting found in the Solution Type, Solution Parameters, Output
Requests, and Submit Options forms. If you would like to inspect these forms, feel free to do so
but do not change the default settings.
To submit the analysis run, click on the Apply button at the bottom of the Analysis form. Patran
Thermal will create the jobname directory (exercise_1 if you did not change it) and spawn the
Patran Thermal job.
Patran Thermal will create a subdirectory with the job name exercise_1 containing the data
files, message files and the results file for this analysis. If you would like to check the status,
open a new window and look at the contents of the exercise_1/patq.msg.01 file. If
there is a stat.bin file present, you can check the progress of the solution convergence by
typing in this shell the command:
% qstat

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Model Description

By selecting Thermal Tools as the action on the analysis menu, you can obtain an interactive
XY plot of the convergence status as the job is being executed.
Step 9: After the job is complete (this job takes less than a minute), change the Action pull-down option
menu on the top of the Analysis form to Read Results. Next, click on the Select Results file
button. When the Select File form appears, select the subdirectory for the job just submitted by
double clicking the appropriate path:
... ./exercise_1/*.nrf*
Update the Available Files list by clicking on the Filter button. Highlight the file, nr0.nrf.01, in
the Available Files list. Your edited Select File form should now look like the one shown below.

Click on the OK button to close that form.

Step 10: A result template file is necessary to define the nodal results being read back into PATRAN.
One is created and placed in the same subdirectory that job was executed thus it is not necessary
to select one. If it is desired to use something other than the originally created default do the
following. The Select Rslt Template File button in the Analysis form. Move the Files scroll
button to the bottom and select the pthermal_nod_T.res_tmpl results template file. The form
is shown below for your reference.

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Model Description

Click on the OK button to close that form.

Finally, click on the Apply button on the bottom of the Analysis form to cause Patran to read in
the analysis results.
Step 11: To display the temperature distribution across the aluminum plate, click on the Results button
in the main form.
When the Results Display form appears and the only results case will be highlighted. Select the
result it is desired to plot and click on the Apply button to render the plot. Your temperature
distribution should now look similar to the one shown below.

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Model Description

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