Jason Chan

1394424
MEC E 563
Assignment 4
Monday, October 24, 2016
Tables of Contents
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1
2. Model Set-up ............................................................................................................................... 1
2.1. Geometry .............................................................................................................................. 1
2.2. Element................................................................................................................................. 1
2.3. Boundary Conditions and Loads .......................................................................................... 1
3. Results and Discussion ............................................................................................................... 2
4. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 2
Figures............................................................................................................................................. 3
Appendices - Command File .......................................................................................................... 6
1. Introduction
An aluminum heat sink (E=70 GPa, =0.3, =2.7 g/cm3, k=170 W/mK) with geometry shown in
Figure 1 is surrounded by air at 25C and heat transfer coefficient of h=20 W/m2K. The heat sink
sits on top of a chip that releases a constant heat flux of 20,000 W/m2. ANSYS Mechanical
APDL is used to determine the temperature distribution and the thermal gradient within the sink.
Symmetry of the sink was considered for analysis. As well, a mesh dependency test was
performed to obtain the optimal number of nodes to use.

2. Model Set-up
2.1. Geometry
The heat sink was generated by creating adjacent rectangles using the RECTNG command,
which represented the cross section of the half of the heat sink. These areas were added together
with AADD command, and corresponding lines were combined with LCOMB. This area was
then offset such that the model now represented a quarter of the heat sinks total geometry. This
symmetric model is shown in Figure 2.

2.2. Element
Solid 87 was used for this analysis because of its ability to model irregular volumes, as well as
its applicability to 3-D steady-state thermal analysis. It is a 10-noded element with one degree of
freedom, temperature, at each node. The thermal conductivity of the heat sink was defined here
as 170 W/mK. This element does not take mechanical properties into consideration. An element
size of FREE was initially used, which allows ANSYS to change the element size according to
the geometry.

2.3. Boundary Conditions and Loads

The bottom of the heat sink was supplied with a constant heat flux of 20,000 W/m2. A heat
transfer coefficient of 20 W/m2K and temperature of 25C was applied to the faces where the
heat sink met with open air. The surfaces of the model which represented the symmetric
boundaries did not have any heat flux or convection applied to them. A symmetry boundary
condition was applied on the corresponding axes using the DSYM command.

1
3. Results and Discussion
The temperature distribution of the heat sink is shown in Figure 3. The temperature ranges from
428.835 K on the outer areas of the heat sink to 428.183 K at the bottom centre. The thermal
gradient is shown in Figure 4. The thermal gradient ranges from 0.010253 K/m at the outer
surfaces to 0.311176 K/m at the edges between the cooling fins.
The thermal gradient as a function of distance is plotted in Figure 5. The path of this plot was
chosen as the base to the top of the farthest out fin. This path was used because it clearly shows
the change of thermal gradient within the solid heat sink, as well as when the fin is exposed to
air. Thermal gradient starts at a higher value and a maximum of 0.138 K/mm2. At distances
exposed to air, the thermal gradient starts to decrease, eventually to a value of 0.015 K/mm2.
The maximum temperate of the heat sink is located right in the centre at the base. This is
expected, since the centre is where the least heat gets dissipated. A mesh dependency test was
performed here, and it was found that at least 204,626 nodes were needed for the max
temperature to remain stable at around 428.188 K. Figure 6 shows this mesh dependency test.

4. Conclusion
The temperature distribution ranged from 428.835 K on the outer areas of the heat sink to
428.183 K at the bottom centre. Thermal gradient ranged from 0.010253 K/m at the outer
surfaces to 0.311176 K/m at the edges between the cooling fins. The thermal gradient was
plotted along the base of the outermost fin to its tip. It was seen that the thermal gradient
decreased at distances where it was exposed to air. It was also found using a mesh dependency
test that at least 200,000 nodes were needed for a convergent max temperature of 428.188 K at
the bottom centre of the heat sink.

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Figures

Figure 1. Geometry of the aluminum heat sink

Figure 2. Symmetric model of one quarter of the heat sink

3
Figure 3. Temperature distribution of the aluminum heat sink

Figure 4. Thermal gradient of the aluminum heat sink

4
Figure 5. Path plot along outer fin of thermal gradient as a function of distance from base

Temperature Mesh Dependency Test

428.19

428.185
Temperature (K)

428.18

428.175

428.17

428.165

428.16
0 200000 400000 600000 800000 1000000 1200000
Degrees of Freedom

Figure 6. Mesh dependency study for maximum temperature at the centre of the base

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Appendices - Command File
/PREP7

RECTNG,0,-0.5,0,2.5
RECTNG,-0.5,-1.5,0,8.5
RECTNG,-1.5,-2.5,0,2.5
RECTNG,-2.5,-3.5,0,8.5
RECTNG,-3.5,-4.5,0,2.5
RECTNG,-4.5,-5.5,0,8.5
RECTNG,-5.5,-6.5,0,2.5
RECTNG,-6.5,-7.5,0,8.5
RECTNG,-7.5,-8.5,0,2.5
RECTNG,-8.5,-9.5,0,8.5
RECTNG,-9.5,-10.5,0,2.5
RECTNG,-10.5,-12.5,0,10
RECTNG,-12.5,-14.5,0,4
RECTNG,-14.5,-16.5,0,10
RECTNG,-16.5,-20.5,1,2
RECTNG,-16.5,-20.5,3,4

AADD,ALL
LSEL,S,,,65,89,2
LSEL,A,,,1
LCOMB,ALL
LSEL,ALL

VOFFST,17,40.1/2

ET,1,87
MP,DENS,1,2.7E-09
MP,KXX,1,170
ESIZE,free
MSHAPE,1,3D
VMESH,ALL

SFA,39,,HFLUX,20
ASEL,S,,,39
ASEL,A,,,17
ASEL,A,,,40
ASEL,INVE
SFA,ALL,,CONV,0.02,298
ASEL,ALL
DSYM,SYMM,X
DSYM,SYMM,Z

/SOLU
SOLVE

/POST1
PATH,MY,2,30,20
PPATH,1,,-15.5,0,0
PPATH,2,,-15.5,10,0
PDEF,STRESS,TG,SUM
PLPATH,STRESS,TG,SUM