This example is taken from Cornell University’s ANSYS AIM Learning Modules

Learning Goals

In this tutorial, you will learn to :

• Perform thermal analysis of electrical wire
•  Determine the centerline temperature of wire

Problem Specification

For this demonstration, we are asked to determine the centerline temperature, Tc, and surface temperature of a bare steel wire carrying a current, I, and having a resistance, R. The surface convection coefficient between the wire and the ambient air (at temperature Ta) is h.

Pre-Analysis

Using Ohm’s Law  I R = V the voltage drop along the wire is calculated to be 0.1 volts. The resistivity is also calculated using the equation , which is calculated to be . We are now ready to begin the simulation.

Geometry

Download the file here

The following video shows how to import the geometry in Discovery AIM.

Physics Setup

The following video shows how to define a new material for the wire and specify electrical and thermal boundary conditions.

Results Evaluation

The following video shows how to compute the centerline temperature of wire.

Verification & Validation

From the Ansys Mechanical APDL Verification Manual problem VM119 the calculated centerline temperature was 420.0 F (215.6 C). The percent error between these two calculations is 0.102%. In conclusion, the solvers calculation for the centerline temperature is accurate.