A network element is characterized by a type of fluid section. It has to be specified on the *FLUID SECTION card unless the analysis is a pure thermomechanical calculation.
Typical material properties needed for a liquid network are the density (temperature dependent, cf. the *DENSITY card), the heat capacity and the dynamic viscosity (both temperature dependent and to be specified with the FLUID CONSTANTS card).
A special case is the purely thermal liquid network. This applies if:
For liquids the orifice (only for ), restrictor, branch, and vortex fluid section types of gases can be used by specifying the parameter LIQUID on the *FLUID SECTION card. In addition, the following types are available as well (the coefficients for the head losses are taken from [10], unless specified otherwise):