New user - hoping tech support can validate my setup

I’m new to using your software. Although I seem to have gotten results generally that I would have expected I’m pretty sure the temperatures are not correct. Is there someone who could walk through my setup and see if they can confirm I have done everything correctly?

I have a heat source attached to a heatsink that is enclosed in a sealed plastic volume.
The heat sink is on the bottom of the plastic housing.
Trying to determine how hot the heat source gets.
I am evaluating at 50C ambient. I don’t quite understand what the difference between entering temperature in the initial conditions and boundary conditions is. I have used boundary conditions to set my ambient to 50C.

I created an internal volume in my CAD package that represents the internal air. And then used the CAD editor in SIMSCALE to create the external volume.

Just hoping you can evaluate my setup to point out things I may have done wrong.

HEre is my project and RUN3 in simulations is the one I’d like you to look at.

Thanks!

Hi Chris,

Your setup looks logical and well thought out.
With an initial condition that is basically your starting point. If you set a temperature I.C. your entire domain/subdomain will be at that temperature at Time=0 then the simulation inputs will begin to change the temperature from there.

One thing you might benefit from trying is using mesh refinements. This can change the outcome of simulations as better refinement allows more accurate calculations to be computed. Some other users with better heat transfer analysis knowledge might chime in with more detailed information about boundary conditions and what not. If you have some background information on why you think the temperatures aren’t correct that may also be useful to others.

Best,
Jake

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Thanks Jake,

My comment about temperatures not being correct was based on a run before I discovered the correct place to enter ambient. So my ambient was set at 19.85. My heat source was only rising to 56C. I though I had set ambient to 50 so this seemed off. Once I got ambient set right my power source rose to 86 which makes more sense.

So really just asking for a sanity check since I am a brand new user of this awesome tool.

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Understandable Chris! Yeah I remember not knowing to utilize the ambient temperature when I began as well, this created some unique results to say the least. Yes, your simulation looks to pass my sanity check, not a heat flow master by any means though. The more simulations you run and forum posts you read the better you’ll get at creating near real world conditions. One thing I always try to think about is what assumptions I am making with my simulations and how that could affect my outcome. When I think like that it allows me to easier understand good results or outliers that need to be simulated again.
Best of luck to you in your future sims.
Jake

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