Plane stress view factor calculation when modeling with axisymmetric or 3D elements
This section explains how the thermal solver computes the view factor for axisymmetric or mixed 2D axi-3D models with plane stress elements for radiation requests.
To compute the view factor for axisymmetric or mixed 2D axi-3D models with plane stress elements for radiation requests, the thermal solver transfers axisymmetric elements' properties to plane stress elements. This method simplifies the full three-dimensional (3D) calculations and significantly reduces the computation time. The solver computes radiation from edges of a plane stress element, only for the Monte Carlo method, when radiation enclosures contain edges of element types, such as axisymmetric, chocking, or plane stress. The following example represents a simplified 3D model with plane stress elements.
In this model, the plane stress elements break the axisymmetry. To calculate the view factor, the thermal solver uses a simplified axisymmetric radiation treatment. It applies certain optical properties to the plane stress elements to create axisymmetric elements as shown in the following figure.
The thermal solver treats plane stress elements with multiple instances as semi-transparent elements to account for partial circumferential coverage.
The transparency of plane-stress elements depends on the ray direction:
- When a ray travels from an external edge to an internal edge between axisymmetric and plane stress elements, the plane-stress elements are semi-transparent.
- When a ray travels from an internal edge to an external edge, the plane-stress elements are fully transparent.
