Explanation Of Thermal Strain Effects In ANSYS Mechanical

Just as non-linear material effects, thermal strain effects are also adjustable engineering parameters in ANSYS® solid analyses. The thermal strain is a very important engineering parameter to consider in such engineering problems. In here we explain;

• The thermal strain term in engineering basis.
• Adjustment of thermal strain in ANSYS® Mechanical structural analyses.

What Is ‘Thermal Strain’?

The thermal strain is the strain and stress situation on a body, because of the thermal expansion of parts. Consider that a part is attached to a body or fixtures, with the increment of temperature, the part will expand and stresses will occur on bodies because of these fixed supports. Thermal strain has the formula;

Here, ε is the thermal strain that occurs on a part. α is the thermal coefficient of the part’s material that is defined on engineering data. T is the current or increased temperature and Tref is the stress-free temperature.

So, you need to assess your system that whether thermal strains would occur. If there is no thermal strain will occur on your system with the increasing temperature, you can deactivate the thermal strain effects in ANSYS® Mechanical. This will save from total solution time.

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Also, you can deactivate thermal strain, if there is no stress from increasing temperature.

How To Activate Or Deactivate Thermal Strain Effects In ANSYS® Mechanical?

This is very simple.

Click on the model or geometry that you want to deactivate the thermal strain effects on it, from the outline tree in ANSYS® Mechanical, as shown in a red box above. Then click on ‘Thermal Strain Effects’ beneath the ‘Material’ section as shown by the red arrow above.

Select ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ from this drop-down list. By default, thermal strain effects are adjusted as ‘Yes’.

Conclusion

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NOTE: All the screenshots and images are used for educational and informative purposes. Images used courtesy of ANSYS, Inc.