Nastran Thermal: Getting a temperature profile through a plate

[Justowr]

Hi,

I'm quite new to Nastran Thermal and am having trouble with the modeling of a simple 3D plate.

Basically I need to develop a model that will predict the temperature distribution of an aluminum plate that is heated (by friction) on its top surface.

I've tried adding a thermal load (temperature) to both the top and bottom surface to get a temperature difference but get no heat flow when I run the analysis.

Could anyone point out what I'm doing wrong or suggest another way to model this plate.

Thanks

 

[kellnerp]

You are putting energy (heat) into the plate, not temperature. Heat flows, temperature doesn't.

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[ThomasH]

If you use solid elements to model the plate and have given appropriate values for heat conductivity it should work.

Basically you give the top layer of nodes one temperature and the bottom layer another temperature. Then there should be a distribution through the thickness.

BUT if you have used plate elements the the top/bottom temperatures might just represent a gradient. Not a thermal analysis at all. At least not in the context I'm thinking about.

Regards

Thomas