CAFLUID

Bulk Data Entry Defines a 1D element that can conduct heat and transmit fluid between its two primary nodes.

Heat flow is due to conduction within the fluid and mass transport of the fluid.

Format

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
CAFLUID EID PID G1 G2 G3 G4

Example

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
CAFLUID 7 1 233 225 9911 9912

Definitions

Field Contents SI Unit Example
EID Unique element identification number.

No default (Integer > 0)
PID PAFLUID property entry identification number.

No default (Integer > 0)
G1, G2 Grid point identification numbers of the CAFLUID element connection points.

No default (Integer > 0, G1 ≠ G2)
G3, G4 Grid point identification numbers of the ambient convection points.

Default = Blank (Integer ≥ 0)

Comments

  1. The CAFLUID element represents 1D elements which can conduct heat and transmit fluid through mass flow. The PID field points to a PAFLUID Bulk Data that determines the element property.
  2. The ambient grids G3 and G4 can be defined on SPC entries to define ambient temperatures for the CAFLUID entry.
  3. Additionally, the CAFLUID nodes can be defined as ambient points on the TAi fields of the CONV entry which defines as convection heat transfer interface. This allows definition of a cooling setup using CAFLUID fluid flow from a structural heat transfer interface. The CACONV Bulk Data Entry can be used to automatically generate the corresponding CHBDYE and CONV Bulk Data Entries required to identify the corresponding element convection surfaces associated with the grids of the CAFLUID Bulk Data.
  4. The mass flow rate can be defined via the W field on the referenced PAFLUID entry.
  5. The hydraulic diameter of flow cross-section can be defined via the D field on the referenced PAFLUID entry.
  6. The fluid thermal material properties are defined via the MID field on PAFLUID entry that references a MAT4 entry.
  7. The grid temperature output for the CAFLUID nodes can be printed to the PUNCH file via THERMAL(PUNCH)=YES/SID.
  8. CAFLUID-based flow heat transfer is currently supported for Linear Steady-State Heat Transfer Analysis, Linear Transient Heat Transfer Analysis, Nonlinear Steady-State Heat Transfer Analysis, and Nonlinear Transient Heat Transfer Analysis.