Mechanical Analysis Blog

Posts tagged with 'modelling'

The art of modelling using CFD. Part VI - Peripheral Boundary Conditions

Posted Jun 21, 2010, by Robin Bornoff

This final blog in this series focuses on what is sometimes the most ethereal of CFD modelling arts, where and how to define your peripheral boundary conditions. A fancy phrase but in reality no more than deciding where the interface is between what you model and what you don’t. Heat is contemptuous of such divisions, it will spread out from it’s source and keep on spreading via convection, conduction … Read More

Tags: modelling, boundary condition, CFD, BC, Model, Modeling, Electronics Cooling

The art of modelling using CFD. Part V - Grid

Posted Jun 4, 2010, by Robin Bornoff

Any simulation technology based on an approach of subdividing a 3D model into many tessellated control volumes (e.g. the finite volume method) will be affected by the shape and size of those ‘mesh cells’ or ‘grid’. How fine should the mesh be to resolve the physics of the model being simulated? Good question. I used to ask my art teacher how to draw curtains. You don’t have to be a comic to figure out … Read More

Tags: modelling, Electronics Cooling, CFD, Model, Modeling, Grid, Mesh

The art of modelling using CFD. Part IV - Fans

Posted May 20, 2010, by Robin Bornoff

Sometimes the ability to apply artistic interpretation of your virtual product to your simulation model of it is limited or dictated (take your pick) by the available capabilities of that simulation tool. CFD simulation is quite a young technology, application to electronics cooling newer still, a mere 21 years old. Always pushing the limit of available computing resource, always adapting to the ever … Read More

Tags: modelling, compact model, Electronics Cooling, BCI, Model, Modeling, Fan

The art of modelling using CFD. Part III - TIGs

Posted May 17, 2010, by Robin Bornoff

Never trust a TLA (three-letter acronym) or those who use them, unless the abbreviation provides some value in terms of repetitive usage  or is accepted as an industry standard. Too often TLAs are used as a screen between those who are listening and the incompetence of the person talking. TIGs (thermally insignificant geometries) as a TLA is neither useful nor accepted, I just made it up. Thermally … Read More

Tags: modelling, Electronics Cooling, flomcad, CFD, Model, Modeling, MCAD

The art of modelling using CFD. Part II - Grilles

Posted May 13, 2010, by Robin Bornoff

Wiki quote: “A grille is an opening of several slits side by side in a wall or metal sheet or other barrier, usually to let air or water enter and/or leave but keep larger objects including people and animals in or out.” For electronic products that need to be kept cool, getting cool air in through grille work is commonplace, thermal designers love them, EMC/EMI designers don’t. For such products, keeping … Read More

Tags: science, CFD, Electronics Cooling, art, Modeling, modelling, Model

The art of modelling using CFD. Part I - What happens if you cross art with science?

Posted May 10, 2010, by Robin Bornoff

Considering that CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) is an advanced mathematical method for predicting fluid flow and heat transfer using a computational software approach I find it paradoxical that it is often as much an art as it is a science. A model by its very definition is a representation of something. A computer model is a virtual representation of a system (e.g. a laptop, a rack mounted server, … Read More

Tags: science, CFD, art, Modeling, modelling, FloVENT, Model