Thermal Analysis of a Radiator using Ansys Fluent - Lesson 2

The radiator is the main part of a vehicle’s cooling system. It works to circulate coolant throughout the engine components in order to dissipate heat and keep the engine from overheating. The radiator fins absorb heat from the coolant and are cooled by fans. If the engine overheats, the car will stop running and will end in a loss for the team at the competition, so having a properly functioning radiator that keeps the engine cool during competition is essential for student teams.

In the video demonstration, students will learn how to prepare geometry for a thermal CFD analysis by applying shared topology in Ansys Spaceclaim. Students will then use Ansys Fluent to model the radiator exchanging heat with liquid coolant. A walkthrough of the model setup and mesh generation is demonstrated. In addition, a simulation in Fluent is set up to perform a conjugate heat transfer analysis between the blown air and coolant.