How to apply spatially changing film coefficients on a aurface

[roberto1632]

I want to do a steady state thermal simulation of a channel whose film coefficients I know.
I have a flat surface that I want to apply a film coefficient, h, that varies in one direction (x). I have the data in excel (film coefficient at different x locations). How do I apply this to the flat surface? I have seen that I can input data in XML format. I don't, however, know how to transfer my excel data to XML as I do not know how ANSYS wants is or even how to do it.
Any help would be hugely appreciated. Is there a tutorial on how to do this?

Thanks everyone!

 

[flash3780]

You'll have to work in Ansys Mechanical APDL (black background), but you should be able to map spatially varying film coefficients onto a surface by indexing their values in a table with the *DIM command.

When dealing with thermal boundary conditions, I find it useful to apply them to surface effect elements so that you can grab things like the amount of heat flowing through a given area (see ETABLE). If you do that, you can use the SFE command to apply the loads. It should go something like this:

1. Create a *DIM table:
*DIM,convection_table,table,...
convection_table(1,0)=...
convection_table(1,1)=...

2. Create surface-effect elements and select them
cmsel,s,my_convecting_surface
esurf
esln,s
esel,r,ename,,surf152

3. Apply your boundary condition:
sfe,,,conv,1,%convection_table%
allsel

Mind you, I didn't check the above code, so you might want to spend some time in the Ansys Command Reference. Also be sure to check the KEYOPTs and real constants on your SURF152 elements.

//signed//
Christopher K. Hubley
Mechanical Engineer
Sunpower Incorporated
Athens, Ohio
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