Heat problems to be run in Sinda/G thermal analysis solver from Network Analysis Inc., Chandler, Ariz. (www.sinda.com), now can be prepared with MSC.Patran, a widely used finite-element pre and postprocessor. Teaming the two programs lets users perform complex thermal analysis with thermal features not present in traditional FEA solvers. "Sinda/G is optimized for heat transfer, so its nonlinear thermal models run in as little as 15% of the time of less specialized FEA codes," says Ron Behee, president of Network Analysis. "The software also supports industry-standard radiation and orbital-heating programs, such as Thermica, Nevada, TSS, and Trasys, which allows building complete thermal models for spacecraft in Patran."
The release allows incorporating advanced features from the thermal program such as convection equations, programming logic, and user-defined subroutines. Users can also add advanced thermal features such as heat pipes, proportional heaters, and thermal-electric devices to models built in Patran.