Heat Transfer Analysis

Overheating components, inefficient cooling or unexpected thermal stresses can lead to product failures, costly redesigns and delayed time-to-market. With our heat transfer analysis services, you gain detailed insight into the thermal behaviour of your design — before committing to physical prototypes. Using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), we accurately predict temperature distributions, heat flows and thermal stresses so you can make confident engineering decisions.

Why thermal simulation matters

Temperature affects nearly every aspect of product performance. Materials weaken, electronics derate, seals degrade and tolerances shift — all because of heat. Yet thermal behaviour is notoriously difficult to estimate from hand calculations alone, especially when convection, radiation and conduction interact simultaneously.

A thermal simulation captures these complex interactions with high fidelity. It reveals hot spots you did not anticipate, quantifies safety margins, and lets you evaluate design changes in hours rather than weeks of testing. Whether you are developing a new product or troubleshooting field failures, simulation gives you the answers you need to move forward with confidence.

Thermal analysis with FEA

Finite Element Analysis is the method of choice when you need to understand how heat conducts through solid components and assemblies. We use FEA to calculate steady-state and transient temperature fields, accounting for conduction between parts, convective boundary conditions on surfaces and thermal radiation between components.

FEA-based thermal analysis is particularly effective when the convection coefficients are well characterised or can be reliably estimated. Typical applications include thermal stress assessment, predicting thermal expansion and distortion, evaluating cool-down and warm-up cycles, and identifying the risk of thermal shock in brittle materials like ceramics or glass.

Because the thermal results feed directly into a structural model, we can also calculate the stresses and deformations that arise from temperature gradients — a critical step for components operating at elevated temperatures or subjected to rapid thermal cycling.

Temperature distribution in an exhaust manifold calculated with coupled CFD-FEA analysis
Temperature distribution in an exhaust manifold. Hot exhaust gas temperatures were first computed with CFD, then mapped to the FEA model to determine the temperature field and resulting thermal stresses in the solid manifold.

Thermal analysis with CFD

When the flow field has a significant impact on the heat transfer — or when the convection coefficient is unknown — Computational Fluid Dynamics is the right tool. CFD solves the full fluid flow equations together with the energy equation, which means the convective heat transfer coefficient is not assumed but calculated from first principles.

This makes CFD indispensable for applications such as electronics cooling, where complex airflow paths around PCBs and heat sinks determine component temperatures. It is equally important for heat exchanger design, HVAC systems, underhood thermal management in vehicles and industrial drying processes, where local flow velocities, turbulence and temperature-dependent fluid properties all affect the rate of heat transfer.

CFD also handles phase-change phenomena such as condensation, evaporation, melting and solidification — processes that are virtually impossible to capture with FEA or analytical methods alone.

CFD thermal analysis of an electronic enclosure showing airflow streamlines and component temperatures
CFD thermal analysis of an electronic enclosure. The streamlines visualise the internal airflow, while the colour plot shows the temperatures of individual electronic components — revealing which parts are at risk of overheating.
Spatial variation of the convective heat transfer coefficient on a heat sink, calculated with CFD
Convective heat transfer coefficient on a heat sink surface, calculated with CFD. Red zones transfer heat far more effectively than blue zones. This spatial variation cannot be captured by FEA and is essential for optimising fin geometry and airflow direction.

Conjugate heat transfer and Fluid-Structure Interaction

Many real-world thermal problems involve the simultaneous interaction of fluid flow, heat transfer and structural response. A hot fluid flowing through a pipe heats the pipe wall, which expands and generates thermal stresses. A cooled turbine blade deforms under combined thermal and mechanical loads, changing the flow path around it.

We handle these coupled problems through conjugate heat transfer analysis (simultaneous solving of fluid and solid thermal fields) and Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI), where CFD and FEA solvers exchange temperature, pressure and displacement data. This approach delivers the most accurate results for thermally loaded structures operating in contact with flowing media.

Streamlines coloured by temperature through a shell-and-tube heat exchanger
Temperature-coloured streamlines through a shell-and-tube heat exchanger. Both the shell-side and tube-side flows are shown, illustrating how heat is transferred between the two fluid streams across the tube walls.

Industries and applications

Our heat transfer analysis services support engineers across a wide range of industries. From consumer electronics to heavy industry, we have the experience and tools to tackle your thermal challenges:

  • Electronics & semiconductors — thermal management of PCBs, power modules, LED lighting and data centre cooling
  • Automotive & transport — underhood cooling, battery thermal management for EVs, exhaust system analysis and brake cooling
  • Energy & renewables — solar thermal collectors, heat recovery systems, fuel cells and power generation equipment
  • Process & chemical industry — heat exchangers, reactors, drying processes and HVAC design
  • Industrial equipment — thermal shock assessment, furnace design, cooling strategy optimisation and thermal fatigue evaluation

Facing a thermal challenge? Let's talk.

Whether you need to validate a cooling concept, troubleshoot an overheating problem or optimise heat dissipation in a new design — our team of thermal simulation specialists is ready to help. We work with Ansys Mechanical, Ansys Fluent, Ansys CFX, Matlab and Python.

Get in touch for a free initial consultation. We will discuss your application, recommend the right analysis approach and provide you with a clear project proposal.

 Contact us  or call us at +32 478 618 118

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about heat transfer analysis and thermal simulation.

For conduction and radiation problems solved with FEA we use Ansys Mechanical. For convection-dominated problems and conjugate heat transfer we use Ansys Fluent and Ansys CFX, which resolve the fluid flow and heat transfer simultaneously. Matlab and Python are used for analytical pre-calculations, post-processing and automation. As always, the accuracy of a thermal simulation depends more on correctly defining heat sources, boundary conditions and material data than on the software itself — and that is where our experience is most valuable.

Conduction is heat transfer through solid material and is always present. Convection is heat exchange between a solid surface and a surrounding fluid (air, water, oil) — it can be modelled with simplified film coefficients or fully resolved with CFD. Radiation becomes significant at higher temperatures or when surfaces exchange heat across gaps or open space, such as in furnaces, electronics enclosures or outdoor equipment. Most real-world problems involve two or all three mechanisms simultaneously, and our simulations account for this.

A conduction-only model with applied convection coefficients works well when the fluid flow pattern is simple and well-characterised — for example forced air over a flat heat sink with known flow conditions. When the flow path is complex, when natural convection drives the heat transfer, when you need to understand fluid temperatures (not just solid temperatures), or when the flow and thermal fields are strongly coupled, a conjugate heat transfer simulation using CFD gives much more reliable results.

Yes. Transient thermal analysis tracks how temperatures evolve over time, accounting for the thermal mass (heat capacity) of the materials involved. This is essential for understanding warm-up times, cool-down rates, thermal shock events, duty cycle behaviour and the time it takes for a system to reach steady state. We also couple transient thermal results with structural analysis to evaluate thermal stresses and thermo-mechanical fatigue.

Often, yes. Simulation can reveal that a system is over-cooled in some areas and under-cooled in others, or that a simpler cooling solution would be sufficient. By understanding the thermal paths and bottlenecks in your design, we can recommend changes that maintain safe operating temperatures while reducing fan power, coolant flow, heat sink size or the number of cooling components — all of which translate directly into lower cost, weight and energy consumption.

We need the geometry (CAD or drawings), the heat sources and their power dissipation (in watts or as a heat flux), the thermal properties of the materials (thermal conductivity, specific heat, density), the boundary conditions (ambient temperature, airflow conditions, contact with other components) and your temperature limits or design targets. If exact material data is not available, we can use representative values from our material databases.

A conduction-based steady-state analysis can be completed in a few days to a week. Conjugate heat transfer simulations with CFD, transient analyses or multi-physics projects with coupled structural evaluation typically take two to five weeks. We agree on scope and timeline before each project starts.