Defining Contact Properties in Thermal Steps

You can use contact properties to define the conductive and radiative interaction between two surfaces in a thermal step.

Note: You can also define contact properties in structural steps to specify the tangential and normal interaction between two surfaces. For more information, see Defining Contact Properties in Structural Steps.

This task shows you how to:

Before you begin:
See Also
About Contact Properties
Defining Surface-Based Contact in Implicit Steps
In Other Guides
Feature Manager

Define Thermal Conduction Contact Properties

  1. From the Interactions section of the action bar, click Contact Property .
  2. Optional: Enter a descriptive Name.
  3. Expand the Thermal Conduction Property section to access more options.
    1. Select Specify thermal conduction options.
    2. Select Use clearance-dependent data.
      The options in the Clearance tab become active.
    3. Select Use pressure-dependent data.
      The options in the Pressure tab become active.
    4. Optional: Select Use temperature-dependent data, and enter values for Temperature in the table.
    5. Specify the Number of field variables, and enter values for those field variables in the table.
    6. In the table, enter values for Conductance, Separation, and Pressure, as applicable.
  4. Click OK.

Define Radiation Contact Properties

  1. From the Interactions section of the action bar, click Contact Property .
  2. Optional: Enter a descriptive Name.
  3. Expand the Radiation section to access more options.
    1. Select Specify radiation options.
    2. Enter a value as the Emissivity of main surface.
    3. Enter a value as the Emissivity of secondary surface.
    4. In the table, enter values for View Factor and Clearance.
  4. Click OK.

Define Electrical Conduction Contact Properties

  1. From the Interactions section of the action bar, click Contact Property .
  2. Optional: Enter a descriptive Name.
  3. Expand the Electrical Conduction Property section.
    1. Select Specify electrical conduction options.
    2. Select Use clearance-dependent data.
      The options in the Clearance tab become active.
    3. Select Use pressure-dependent data.
      The options in the Pressure tab become active.
    4. Optional: Select Use temperature-dependent data, and enter values for Temperature in the table.
    5. Specify the Number of field variables, and enter values for those field variables in the table.
    6. In the table, enter values for Conductance, Separation, and Pressure, as applicable.
  4. Click OK.