Air Cooled — Natural Convection of Discrete Heated Plate

First-pass trade studies for a vertical plate cooled by natural convection. Add multiple heat sources by drawing rectangles. Intended for preliminary sizing and sensitivity analysis; validate independently for safety-critical use.

Details (inputs, outputs, assumptions) Read once

Model summary

Inputs: plate W/H/thickness, material, ambient temperature, grid resolution, and source rectangles (Watts per source).

Outputs: temperature contour, Tmax/Tavg, approximate energy balance residual, and effective heat transfer coefficient, h.

Convection: one-sided natural convection using the Churchill–Chu correlation.

Use case: quick what-ifs, sensitivity, and early sizing—not detailed CFD/FEA.

Examples

Example source layout and resulting temperature contour.

Preliminary estimates only. Verify independently for safety-critical applications. See Terms.