QUALITY OF THE TF-3D—A NEW FEM SOLVER OF NONLINEAR HEAT TRANSFER PROBLEM

Abstract

A new finite-element program called Thermal Field-3 Dimensional (TF-3D) is proposed to solve heat transfer problems during welding. The quality of the finite-element approximate solution is compared with the analytical solutions of benchmark problems and another finite-element package. The benchmark tests have been done for simple structures such as a finite rod, a thick slab, or a brick. The finite-element method (FEM) program ANSYS, one of the most popular FEM packages, has been chosen as the generator of standard numerical results. The results obtained for these two FEM programs have been compared with analytical solutions.

Notes

J. Ronda is presently at the Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa.