Thermal

The Thermal section adds temperature and heat effects to your simulation. When enabled, the model can carry heat, expand as it heats up, exchange heat with its surroundings, or even simulate additive manufacturing (3-D printing), where a layer is laid down hot and cools.

Turning it on

Toggle enabled to turn on thermal behavior for the whole model. When a thermal model is enabled, also switch on Thermal Models in the Solver panel so the solver actually computes the heat.

Thermal models

Setting	What it controls
Name	A label for the thermal model.
Thermal type	The kind of thermal calculation.
Heat transfer coefficient	How quickly heat moves between the part and its surroundings.
Environmental temperature	The temperature of the surroundings.
Thermal conductivity	How well the material conducts heat.
Thermal expansion coefficient	How much the part grows when heated.
Print bed temperature	Temperature of the surface the part sits on (additive manufacturing).
Print bed Z coordinate	The height of the print bed.
File	An external file with temperature data to apply.
Predefined field names	Names of temperature fields to read from an input file.

Tip: thermal simulations are more expensive than mechanical-only ones. Only enable them if your problem involves heat.