NOTE: The models must be in the same location in space and have the same dimensions within very small tolerances.
Typically the first step is to run the thermal model as a steady state analysis (pay attention to units!) in P3Thermal.
NOTE: P3Thermal does not support load cases. It will use whatever loads/BC’s are in the default load case. The best practice is to delete/modify all existing load cases and create a NEW “default” load case and select the appropriate loads/BC’s once the analysis option is set to P3Thermal.
From your thermal analysis you will obtain a neutral file and nodal results file (e.g. therm_model.ntl and nr0.nrf.01)
From your structural model you will need to export a neutral file (e.g. struc_model.out)
Put the three files in an easy to locate folder (e.g. D:\Thermal).
Invoke patq by going to Start, Run and typing in CMD to open a DOS Command window. Navigate to the folder containing the neutral and nodal results files. Type PATQ and press enter.
Select menu pick 6 for utilities followed by menu pick 7 for Temperature mapping.
The utility will prompt you for your “FROM” neutral file (therm_model.ntl) and your “TO” neutral file (struc_model.out)
Then you can input any name for the “MAPPED” neutral file name since this is an output from the utility. (patran.map)
The remaining required inputs are fairly self-explanatory and the defaults will work for most cases. Tolerance can be used to correct for slight variations in geometry of model location although it will diminish the precision of the interpolation.
The utility then searches for “TO” nodes that are within the tolerance distance of the “FROM” nodes and requests the name of your nodal temperature results file (e.g. nr0.nrf.01).
The “MAPPED” file is then created (default name: patran.map) This is a neutral file that can be imported into your structural model. It will produce a spatial field and a spatial temperature LBC that will be in a new load case named based on your input for the SID number.