Orthotropic materials
This topic explains how orthotropic materials are handled in thermal analysis, detailing the process for stretching shell and solid elements based on their thermal conductivities in different material directions and the subsequent calculation of conductance.
When a shell element has an orthotropic thermal conductivity, the element is first stretched in the material X and Y directions by the factors and , respectively. Where kxx and kyy are the thermal conductivities in X and Y directions, respectively. The conductance is then calculated and the thermal conductivity value is replaced by the value .
When a solid element has an orthotropic thermal conductivity, the element is first stretched in the material X, Y, and Z directions by the factors , , and , respectively. Where kzz is the thermal conductivity in the Z direction. The conductance is then calculated and the thermal conductivity value is set to 1.