Methods to Model Natural Convection in CFD

Natural convection is an important part of both heat transfer and fluid flow analyses, and depending on your design conditions and time there are various ways to model it using Autodesk CFD. The first setup assumes your part(s) is insulated where no head can enter or leave the system. Next would be defining a film coefficient (h). This is a faster calculation since it makes a constant assumption of how heat with enter and leave the control volume. Last, and what we will look at in greater detail in the video below, is to model the surrounding fluid. Although this is the most computationally taxing analysis due to including additional geometry and more elements, it is also the most accurate since “h” is function of surface temperature and calculated automatically.

If you have any questions about the workflow or what natural convection setup is right for you, please feel free to reach out to us on the Autodesk CFD forums.

Happy Simulating!