Modeling Thermal Expansion In

ANSYS

6/24/2017
Alex Grishin, PhD

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 Two Ways to Characterize Thermal Expansion

• ANSYS offers the user two different ways to represent a

material’s coefficient of thermal expansion. These are:
• The Secant Coefficient of Thermal Expansion
(abbreviated hereafter as SCTE)
• The Instantaneous Coefficient of Thermal Expansion
(abbreviated here as ICTE)
• Confusion often arises as to the differences between these
two different characterizations of the same phenomenon
• In what follows, we will omit a detailed description and
derivation of each*, but will instead focus on some of the
nuances these two representations impose on modeling

*for a good treatment, see here:

http://www.mechanicsandmachines.com/?p=219

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 Thermal Expansion: The Instantaneous Coefficient

• Differences between the ICTE and SCTE only arise if the

coefficient varies over a temperature range. This is shown
below

εT

SCTE=αsec= (1)
𝜀𝜀𝑇𝑇 −𝜀𝜀𝑇𝑇
1 0
𝑇𝑇1 −𝑇𝑇0
𝑑𝑑𝜀𝜀𝑇𝑇
ICTE=αinst= (2)
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑

T0 T1 T

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 Thermal Expansion: The Instantaneous Coefficient

• So, it's important to remember that both the ICTE and SCTE
are themselves functions of temperature:
𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆 = 𝛼𝛼𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 (T)
𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼 = 𝛼𝛼𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 (T)
• Also, SCTE between T0 and any temperature Ti is constant
and represents the average CTE between these
temperatures

εT
𝜀𝜀𝑇𝑇 −𝜀𝜀𝑇𝑇
αsec= 1 0
𝑇𝑇1 −𝑇𝑇0

T0 T1

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 Thermal Expansion: The Instantaneous Coefficient

• Although mathematically arbitrary, T0 is known as the

reference temperature. This is the temperature at which
thermal strain is zero. Therefore, (1) may be simplified as:

𝜀𝜀𝑇𝑇 (𝑇𝑇)
SCTE=𝛼𝛼𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 (𝑇𝑇)=
𝑇𝑇−𝑇𝑇0

• And corresponding thermal strain, εT at a temperature, T is

expressed by:
𝜀𝜀𝑇𝑇 (𝑇𝑇) = 𝛼𝛼𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 (𝑇𝑇)(𝑇𝑇 − 𝑇𝑇0 ) (3)

• Now, because αsec(T) is defined as the average coefficient of

thermal expansion between T0 and T, the following holds:

𝑇𝑇
𝛼𝛼𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 T T − 𝑇𝑇0 = � 𝛼𝛼𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑇𝑇 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 (4)
𝑇𝑇0

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 Thermal Expansion: The Instantaneous Coefficient

• A few things are noteworthy at this point:

• Equation (4) can be used to convert between ICTE and
SCTE, and in fact ANSYS always makes this conversion
with a numerical approximation (only secant coefficients
are used to determine thermal strains)
• ICTE does not require any definition or knowledge of T0
(the reference temperature), while SCTE is meaningless
without it
• These two facts imply that, regardless of which type of
CTE definition is being used, the ANSYS user must always
know the thermal strain reference temperature to
successfully model thermal strains! If no reference
temperature is provided, Workbench will not complete
the analysis (while in MAPDL, a zero degree reference
temperature is assumed)

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 Thermal Expansion: The Instantaneous Coefficient

An example: Convert the following ICTE curve to an SCTE curve.

Let’s assume the T0=100°C
• We’ll use equation (4) to calculate the SCTE* :

𝛼𝛼𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 (T)

*See MAPDL Theory Reference, section 2.1.3, equation 2-34

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 Thermal Expansion: The Instantaneous Coefficient

• Following the ANSYS Theory reference, we’ll estimate αinst

numerically (in Microsoft Excel), subject to the following
constraints (which can be found in the MAPDL Theory
Reference)

(5)

(6)

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 Thermal Expansion: The Instantaneous Coefficient

• Splitting the five-point curve into four sub-intervals results

in the table below*

Tref = 100 °C

• Note that if a model temperature is applied which is outside

the interval defined by the ICTE curve, ANSYS will simply use
the value closest to that temperature

*Using the trapezoidal rule, n-points results in n-1 intervals and n-1 integral estimates. In this
example, we retain n points because of rule (5). In general, ANSYS sub-divides such curves into
many more points than were given when making this conversion internally

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 Thermal Expansion: The Instantaneous Coefficient

• We can check our values against ANSYS by defining this material in

MAPDL and applying it to a simple model (the MAPDL snippet
below will accomplish this nicely)

• After the solving the model, issuing ‘mplist’ will list the equivalent
SCTE values…

• The results look pretty good! MAPDL Results

• Enter these commands

to generate the ICTE
curve in MAPDL

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 Thermal Expansion: The Instantaneous Coefficient

• However, things get trickier if a reference temperature is set

which lies beyond the range of the temperatures in the ICTE
curve.

• In this example, we set

the ‘Environment
Temperature’ (global Tref
in MAPDL) to 32
degrees --Well below
the lowest temperature
for which we have data
• And we got a failure!

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 Thermal Expansion: The Instantaneous Coefficient

• Searching for ‘error’ in the Solution Information reveals the

problem…

• ANSYS cannot make any assumptions about CTE values at

temperatures beyond what was given. Instead, the user must
do this!

• Our suggestion to the user would be to search for a reliable

source of data over a wider range of temperature which
includes the reference temperature sought

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 Thermal Expansion: The Instantaneous Coefficient

• In the absence of such data, the user may either extrapolate

the original curve, or extend the extreme values to cover the
required range
• Just remember that in either case, we’re guessing!

32
Let’s try extending the curve to the left to cover
32C (ICTE = 1.6e-5/°C at 32 C)

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 Thermal Expansion: The Instantaneous Coefficient

• Now, the problem solves!

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 Thermal Expansion: The Secant Coefficient

• The secant coefficient is the one ANSYS has always used for
solution (all other forms must be converted to this form)
• In some ways, this form is more straightforward. However,
there are some subtle, but very important nuances.
• First, the reference temperature can be defined two ways
(next slide):
• As a global reference (applying to all materials)
• As a material-specific reference
• Both of these definitions can be found in the ANSYS
Workbench Mechanical interface and in the /prep7 processor
of MAPDL

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 Thermal Expansion: The Secant Coefficient

Workbench Mechanical Interface

• The global reference temperature is • The material-specific reference

defined in the details view of the temperature is defined in the details view
Environment object in the tree of each body. By default, this value points
outline to the ‘Environment’ (global) reference.
But by selecting ‘By Body’, the user can
define his/her own unique value for each
body.

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 Thermal Expansion: The Secant Coefficient

Mechanical APDL (MAPDL) Interface

• The global reference temperature is • The material-specific reference

defined with the ‘TREF’ command temperature is applied with the MP
(either in /prep7 or in /solu), or command, or through the GUI:
through the GUI: Preprocessor- Preprocessor->Material Props-
>Loads->Define Loads->Reference >Material Models->Thermal
Temperature Expansion->Secant Coefficient

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 Thermal Expansion: The Secant Coefficient

• But the ability to define a secant coefficient curve (vs.

Temperature), which can potentially have different reference
temperatures poses a problem.
• A Temperature-dependent secant coefficient curve is only valid
for a given reference temperature (see slide 23). So what
happens if the user changes the global reference temperature
(or uses the same curve for bodies or materials with different
reference temperatures)?

ANSWER:

• In MAPDL, the user must insert an ‘MPAMOD’ command (one

for each such offending body or material). In Workbench, this is
automatically handled for you.

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 Thermal Expansion: The Secant Coefficient

• The following is excerpted from the “Mechanical APDL

Commands Reference”

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 Thermal Expansion: The Secant Coefficient

Example (Workbench)

• We want to apply the following SCTE curve to

the two bodies shown below –each with
different reference temperature
Body1: Reference
temperature defined by
‘Environment’ (75 C)

Body2: Reference
temperature defined ‘By
Body’(45 C)

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 Thermal Expansion: The Secant Coefficient

Example (Workbench)
• It is important to note that in Workbench, the user defines a ‘Zero-Thermal-
Strain Reference Temperature’ when defining the SCTE curve (in Engineering
Data)
• This differs from the other two types of reference temperature the user may
define only in that it is the ORIGINAL reference for the SCTE curve as input

In our
example, the
SCTE curve
has a zero
strain
reference of
100 °C

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 Thermal Expansion: The Secant Coefficient

Example (Workbench)
• So, what happens is that ANSYS converts the SCTE curve to any and all other
required reference temperatures via the MPAMOD command. This gets
invoked automatically when Workbench generates the APDL input deck (the
DS.dat file). This can be seen in the input deck for our example below

Converts material 5 to global

reference

Converts material 6 to material

reference

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 Thermal Expansion: The Secant Coefficient

Example (Workbench)
• So, how does the MPAMOD conversion work? And why does it have to do this?
• A clue can be obtained by considering the equivalence to ICTE expressed in
equation (4) (slide 5), and noting that, whether the SCTE curve has zero
reference at T0 or Tr, the resulting thermal strains must be the same in both
cases. An equation expressing this fact can be used to modify the curve to
account for shifting the reference temperature from T0 to Tr. A discussion of
this can be found in the MADPL Theory Reference, section 2.1.3 and reprinted
below.

Setting these
two equal to
one another…

…allows one to
calculate...

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 Conclusions

• Confusion can sometimes arise about the different ways to define temperature-
dependent thermal expansion coefficients in ANSYS. This article describes the two
main options: the ICTE and SCTE (not discussed is a third technique. MAPDL users
can input thermal strain curves vs temperature directly)
• The most commonly encountered issue users face with ICTE curves is defining
reference temperatures beyond the range of temperatures in their ICTE curve
definition. This article recommends searching for more extensive tables from
another source in such cases. However, when no better data can be found, simply
extrapolating or extending the ICTE will work (with the understanding that the user
is guessing the coefficient values. Review results carefully in these cases)
• The most commonly encountered issue users face with SCTE curves is not
understanding the relationship between the zero thermal strain reference
temperature (defined in the Workbench Engineering Data interface), and
environment and body reference temperatures. Just remember that ANSYS modifies
the SCTE curve from the zero thermal strain reference to all other reference
temperatures corresponding to that material (or the global the reference
temperature). This is done via the MPAMOD command internally. MAPDL users
must remember to do this manually.

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