Learning Forum

[Saikishan]

Thank you for the earlier reply... Just wanted a clarification if I link the previously solved structural problem as a link to the new thermal problem..will my final product be applied with both structural force and thermal at the same time ?.

[peteroznewman]

Saikishan,

It's best to Post follow-on questions at the end of the discussion you started.

Ansys can do a 1-way coupling, which is what I showed, where first the thermal solution is computed, then, using those temperatures, the structural solution is computed, so at the end, both effects are included in the results.

There is also 2-way coupling which is more typical in Fluid-Structure interactions, where the flow is solved around a body, and the computed pressure is sent to Structural, which deforms the body, then the deformed body is sent back to Fluent to update the flow and pressure around the deformed body, which is sent to Structural which updates the deformed body shape, until the system converges on the coupled solution.

In your case, if say contact pressure from the structural solution would change the heat flow, then you would need a 2-way coupling, but if the contact pressure would not change the temperature, then a 1-way coupling is all you need.

Finally, there are some elements that have the coupling built right in to the element so in a single solve, both fields, say displacements and fluid pressure are being solved simultaneously.