{"id":438324,"date":"2025-08-01T01:21:40","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T01:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/forums\/topic\/setting-reference-temperature-in-ansys-mechanical\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T01:21:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T01:21:40","slug":"setting-reference-temperature-in-ansys-mechanical","status":"publish","type":"topic","link":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/forums\/topic\/setting-reference-temperature-in-ansys-mechanical\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting Reference Temperature in Ansys Mechanical"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&lt;p&gt;Hello all,&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am working with a material who&#8217;s reference temperature (zero-stress temperature) is above room temperature (~500). I want to import the geometry of that component at room temperature then observe the thermal expansion up to a operating temp (~1000). I set my reference temperature for the material (using MP,REFT,500 apdl command), however now the geometry imports to that reference temperature and shrinks when brought down to room temperature. This means that my thermal expansion from room temp to operating temp is incorrect.&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I could oversize the cad model and account for the shrinkage, but I was hoping there was a better way to properly simulate the zero stress temperature while still retaining the proper geometry at room temp in Ansys.&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;TLDR: Room Temp = 0; Ref Temp = 500; Operating Temp = 1000, geometry is importing at ref temp instead of room temp. I want to simulate expansion from room temp to operating temp.&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&nbsp;&lt;\/p&gt;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-438324","topic","type-topic","status-publish","hentry","topic-tag-Analysisstatic-thermal-static-1","topic-tag-ansys-mechanical","topic-tag-ansys-thermal-1","topic-tag-mechanical-thermal-1"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"custom_fields":[{"0":{"_bbp_forum_id":["27791"],"_bbp_topic_id":["438324"],"_bbp_subscription":["562365","480261"],"_bbp_author_ip":["192.16.76.32"],"_bbp_last_reply_id":["438395"],"_bbp_last_active_id":["438395"],"_bbp_last_active_time":["2025-08-01 15:52:00"],"_bbp_reply_count":["2"],"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":["0"],"_bbp_voice_count":["2"],"_bbp_engagement":["562365","480261"],"_btv_view_count":["471"],"_bbp_topic_status":["unanswered"]},"test":"cajluniblueorigin-com"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics\/438324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/topic"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics\/438324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}