Hey Saikat,
From the information I gather you are trying to apply thermal loading to a 2D cantilever but it not able to get incorporated with the main code. Incorporating thermal loading into a structural simulation can be complex, as it requires coupling between the thermal and structural domains. When you mention using the "epsilon heat exchanger concept," it sounds like you have a method for simulating the thermal effect, but integrating this with the structural mechanics part of your code is where the challenge lies.
There are some general tips and steps you might consider ensuring proper integration of thermal loading into your main code,
- Ensure that the mesh used for the thermal analysis is compatible with the mesh used for the structural analysis.
- You'll need a way to transfer the temperature field from the thermal analysis to the structural analysis.
- Make sure that the material properties used in the simulation (like the coefficient of thermal expansion, Young's modulus, etc.) are temperature-dependent if required, as these properties can significantly affect the results.
- Check the solver settings for both the thermal and structural analyses. For a coupled analysis, you might need to use a sequential or fully coupled approach, depending on the interaction between the thermal and structural fields.
- Verify that the boundary conditions are defined correctly and consistently, also check the solver settings.
For a fully coupled thermo-mechanical analysis, you might need to iterate between the thermal and structural solvers until convergence is achieved. Also, you can rely on debugging. Start with a simple coupling mechanism and make sure it works, then increase the difficulty as you go on.
Hope this helps.
