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Knowledge base articles
General thermal modeling
Contains general thermal solver knowledge base articles, including how-to-guides, best practices, and troubleshooting tips.
How to create a temperature difference plot to compare results?
This article explains how to create a temperature difference plot using a formula field to compare results.

Knowledge base articles
- Knowledge base articles
  This knowledge base provides concise and informative articles focused on thermal, multiphysics, spacecraft application, and turbomachinery topics. Each article provides you with step-by-step guidance, best practices, and tips to help you handle complex processes and use key features effectively.
- General thermal modeling
  Contains general thermal solver knowledge base articles, including how-to-guides, best practices, and troubleshooting tips.
  - Troubleshooting thermal convergence issues and invalid temperature distribution
    This article describes the various causes of thermal solver convergence issues in simulation models, such as warning 6209 and situations where the conjugate solver fails to converge, or an invalid temperature distribution is detected. It provides detailed methods for diagnosing and resolving these issues.
  - Resolving warning 4410: Troubleshooting iterative heat flux convergence issues
    The article addresses Warning 4410, which occurs when the iterative heat flux calculation method fails to converge in thermal simulations, and provides a guide for identifying and resolving the underlying issues.
  - Resolving warning 4903: Interpolation is truncated for table
    This article addresses Warning 4903, a common issue encountered by users, and explores its meaning, causes, and practical steps to resolve it.
  - Resolving the "Not enough space for matrix" error message
    This article explains the error message related to insufficient space for the matrix and provides possible solutions.
  - How to define a thermostat based on a temperature difference between two elements?
    This article provides two methods for defining a thermostat based on a temperature difference between two elements.
  - How to use an average surface temperature as an input in expressions?
    To use the temperature of a solid as an input in expressions, you can use a function of the temperature at a specified point, TEMP(“point name”). However, Simcenter 3D does not have a specific function of the temperature on the surface to use in expressions. This article provides three alternative methods for using average surface temperature in expressions.
  - How to create a large assembly from smaller sub-assemblies?
    This article details the process of assembling a large structure from smaller sub-assemblies, enabling different groups to collaborate on different models before combining them into a single, unified assembly.
  - Thermal coupling methods
    This article explains coupling methods that the thermal solver supports. You will learn element subdivision and projective intersection coupling methods, how to calculate overlapped area, understanding overlap projection direction, how to control coupling resolution, and visualize thermal coupling connections.
  - Thermal coupling types
    The type of thermal coupling you define is determined by the geometry of the source and target regions you specify, as well as the type of heat transfer such as conduction, convection, and radiation. This article explains the different types of thermal coupling and provides guidance on where each type should be used.
  - How to create a thermal coupling between 2D and 3D geometry?
    This article explains how to set up thermal coupling between 2D-axisymmetric and 3D geometry.
  - How to create a thermal coupling between 2D and 0D elements?
    Learn how to correctly set up thermal coupling between 2D and 0D elements.
  - How to verify if thermal couplings are correctly defined?
    This article provides a checklist to verify if the thermal coupling is correctly defined.
  - How to check connections in thermal coupling?
    This article shows how to visualize thermal connections before and after solving the model.
  - Simcenter 3D - Overview of thermal solver files and how to use them
    This article provides an overview of the thermal solver files and explains how to use them.
  - How to create a temperature difference plot to compare results?
    This article explains how to create a temperature difference plot using a formula field to compare results.
  - Understanding the preconditioned conjugate gradient solver and convergence checks in temperature calculation
    This article explains the preconditioned conjugate gradient solver, which is used by the thermal solver, preconditioning techniques, convergence criteria, and memory management strategies to enhance convergence speed and numerical stability of your thermal simulations.
  - How to write a thermal plugin in Simcenter 3D
    This article explains what a thermal plugin is, the benefits of using it, and how to create one.
  - How to define a value in the boundary condition as a function of time?
    This article explains how to define a value for the boundary condition as a function of time, when the time points follow a complex formula.
  - How to manage restarts and overcome challenges effectively?
    This article provides a comprehensive guide on managing restarts in thermal analysis. It lists changes that can and cannot be made while performing a restart, discusses common challenges, steps to ensure consistency in restart options, detailed instructions on selecting and configuring restart options, and best practices.
  - How to constrain duct temperatures on nodes or elements in Simcenter 3D?
  - How to model a constant conductance heat pipe?
    This article compares the thermal results of a honeycomb panel model with and without a heat pipe. You will learn techniques for selecting and modeling a heat pipe embedded in a spacecraft panel using the Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal solver.
  - How to set time-varying set point temperature for the PID active heater controller?
    This article explains how to set a time-varying set point temperature for the PID active heater controller.
  - Generating reduced thermal models in Simcenter 3D
    This article explains how to generate a reduced thermal model (RTM) in Simcenter 3D.
  - How to run the thermal solver on clusters?
    This article explains two different methods on how to run the thermal solver on clusters for thermal-flow and multiphysics analyses.
  - Comparing ducts with mass flow and axisymmetric ducts with mass flow coupled with cyclic symmetric sector
    When modeling convection heat transfer due to fluid flow in cyclic symmetric bodies or in models using plane stress (PS) or axisymmetric elements, you can use either ducts with mass flow or axisymmetric ducts with mass flow.
  - Guidelines for modeling lenses in thermal simulations
    This article outlines strategies for modeling lenses in thermal simulations, particularly when considering optical performance, thermal effects, and radiative properties.
  - How to resolve Intel MPI performance issues on Windows with hybrid CPU architectures when running the thermal solver?
    On machines with hybrid CPU architectures that combine Performance-cores (P-cores) and Efficiency-cores (E-cores), Intel MPI on Windows may experience degraded performance when running the thermal solver.
- General flow modeling
- Space Systems Thermal
  Contains Spase Systems Thermal knowledge base articles, including how-to-guides, best practices, and troubleshooting tips.
- Multiphysics
  Contains multiphysics knowledge base articles, including how-to-guides, best practices, and troubleshooting tips.
- Structural
  Contains model correlation and model update knowledge base articles, including how-to-guides, best practices, and troubleshooting tips.

How to create a temperature difference plot to compare results?

This article explains how to create a temperature difference plot using a formula field to compare results.

Details

Display the two sets of results you want to compare. On the Results tab, in the View Layout group, click Side by Side and select the results to display.
In this example, the temperature results are on two different meshes but at the same location in space.
Use the Synchronize View command.
Identify the results on the coarser mesh by clicking Identify Results in the Tools group. From the Pick list, choose Mesh and select the mesh on the model.
Create a field from the identified results by clicking Create Field.
In the Create Table Field dialog box, type the name of the field and specify the independent domain. In this example, coarsetemp is the name and the independent domain is Cartesian.
Identify the results and create a field for the finer mesh, using the same process.
In the Simulation Navigator, verify that the fields are created.
Create a new formula field for the temperature difference, by right-clicking Fields → New Fields → Formula.
In the Formula Field dialog box, type the name, for example tempdiff and click Next.
Search the dependent domain for the temperature difference. To do this, select Filter By Name from the Dependent list, type Temperature Difference, press Enter, and click Next.
From the Independent domain list, select Cartesian, the same as you defined for the fields and click Next.
Define a field that represents the difference of the two fields you previously defined for the coarse and fine meshes. To do this, double-click finetemps and coarsetemp and click Accept Edit.
Generate a contour plot of the expression. To do this, choose Home tab → Checks and Information group → Plot Model Contours.
In the Expression To Plot group, type fd("tempdiff") and click OK.
Select the view window to display the results.