*DFLUX

Keyword type: step

This option allows the specification of distributed heat fluxes. These include surface flux (energy per unit of surface per unit of time) on element faces and volume flux in bodies (energy per unit of volume per unit of time).

In order to specify which face the flux is entering or leaving the faces are numbered. The numbering depends on the element type.

For hexahedral elements the faces are numbered as follows (numbers are node numbers):

• Face 1: 1-2-3-4
• Face 2: 5-8-7-6
• Face 3: 1-5-6-2
• Face 4: 2-6-7-3
• Face 5: 3-7-8-4
• Face 6: 4-8-5-1

for tetrahedral elements:

• Face 1: 1-2-3
• Face 2: 1-4-2
• Face 3: 2-4-3
• Face 4: 3-4-1

for wedge elements:

• Face 1: 1-2-3
• Face 2: 4-5-6
• Face 3: 1-2-5-4
• Face 4: 2-3-6-5
• Face 5: 3-1-4-6

for quadrilateral plane stress, plane strain and axisymmetric elements:

• Face 1: 1-2
• Face 2: 2-3
• Face 3: 3-4
• Face 4: 4-1
• Face N: in negative normal direction (only for plane stress)
• Face P: in positive normal direction (only for plane stress)

for triangular plane stress, plane strain and axisymmetric elements:

• Face 1: 1-2
• Face 2: 2-3
• Face 3: 3-1
• Face N: in negative normal direction (only for plane stress)
• Face P: in positive normal direction (only for plane stress)

for quadrilateral shell elements:

• Face NEG or 1: in negative normal direction
• Face POS or 2: in positive normal direction
• Face 3: 1-2
• Face 4: 2-3
• Face 5: 3-4
• Face 6: 4-1

for triangular shell elements:

• Face NEG or 1: in negative normal direction
• Face POS or 2: in positive normal direction
• Face 3: 1-2
• Face 4: 2-3
• Face 5: 3-1

The labels NEG and POS can only be used for uniform flux and are introduced for compatibility with ABAQUS. Notice that the labels 1 and 2 correspond to the brick face labels of the 3D expansion of the shell (Figure 73).

for beam elements:

• Face 1: in negative 1-direction
• Face 2: in positive 1-direction
• Face 3: in positive 2-direction
• Face 5: in negative 2-direction

The beam face numbers correspond to the brick face labels of the 3D expansion of the beam (Figure 78).

The surface flux is entered as a uniform flux with distributed flux type label Sx where x is the number of the face. For flux entering the body the magnitude of the flux is positive, for flux leaving the body it is negative. If the flux is nonuniform the label takes the form SxNUy and a user subroutine dflux.f must be provided specifying the value of the flux. The label can be up to 20 characters long. In particular, y can be used to distinguish different nonuniform flux patterns (maximum 16 characters).

For body generated flux (energy per unit of time per unit of volume) the distributed flux type label is BF for uniform flux and BFNUy for nonuniform flux. For nonuniform flux the user subroutine dflux must be provided. Here too, y can be used to distinguish different nonuniform body flux patters (maximum 16 characters).

Optional parameters are OP, AMPLITUDE and TIME DELAY. OP takes the value NEW or MOD. OP=MOD is default and implies that the surface fluxes on different faces in previous steps are kept. Specifying a distributed flux on a face for which such a flux was defined in a previous step replaces this value, if a flux was defined for the same face within the same step it is added. OP=NEW implies that all previous surface flux is removed. If multiple *DFLUX cards are present in a step this parameter takes effect for the first *DFLUX card only.

The AMPLITUDE parameter allows for the specification of an amplitude by which the flux values are scaled (mainly used for dynamic calculations). Thus, in that case the values entered on the *DFLUX card are interpreted as reference values to be multiplied with the (time dependent) amplitude value to obtain the actual value. At the end of the step the reference value is replaced by the actual value at that time. In subsequent steps this value is kept constant unless it is explicitly redefined or the amplitude is defined using TIME=TOTAL TIME in which case the amplitude keeps its validity. The AMPLITUDE parameter has no effect on nonuniform fluxes.

The TIME DELAY parameter modifies the AMPLITUDE parameter. As such, TIME DELAY must be preceded by an AMPLITUDE name. TIME DELAY is a time shift by which the AMPLITUDE definition it refers to is moved in positive time direction. For instance, a TIME DELAY of 10 means that for time t the amplitude is taken which applies to time t-10. The TIME DELAY parameter must only appear once on one and the same keyword card.

Notice that in case an element set is used on any line following *DFLUX this set should not contain elements from more than one of the following groups: {plane stress, plane strain, axisymmetric elements}, {beams, trusses}, {shells, membranes}, {volumetric elements}.

In order to apply a distributed flux to a surface the element set label underneath may be replaced by a surface name. In that case the ``x'' in the flux type label takes the value zero.

If more than one *DFLUX card occurs within the input deck the following rules apply:

If a *DFLUX with label S1 up to S6 or BF is applied to an element for which a *DFLUX with the SAME label was already applied before, then

• if the previous application was in the same step the flux value is added, else it is replaced
• the new amplitude (including none) overwrites the previous amplitude

First line:

• *DFLUX
• Enter any needed parameters and their value

Following line for surface flux:

• Element number or element set label.
• Distributed flux type label.
• Actual magnitude of the load (power per unit of surface).

Repeat this line if needed.

Following line for body flux:

• Element number or element set label.
• Distributed flux type label (BF or BFNU).
• Actual magnitude of the load (power per unit of volume).

Repeat this line if needed.

Example:

*DFLUX,AMPLITUDE=A1
20,S1,10.

assigns a flux entering the surface with magnitude 10 times the value of amplitude A1 to surface 1 of element 20.

Example:

*DFLUX
15,BF,10.

assigns a body flux with magnitude 10. to element 15.

Example files: oneel20df,beamhtbf.