This project made use of MATLAB to code and verify custom direct solvers for steady-state heat distribution in arbitrary 3D solids discretised into unstructured tetrahedral mesh. A stegosaurus model gives a fun demonstration of just how arbitrary the solid can be, in addition to the usual verification geometries.
This project was conceived as the first step towards a custom casting-cooling simulator, but turned into a major challenge even without factoring in multi-phase materials, convection, and so forth.
Three solids were modeled and meshed with an unstructured tetrahedron mesher. The custom Finite Element Analysis code uses a direct matrix solver to calculate steady-state temperature distribution, and the results were verified against MATLAB's built-in PDE solver, using a rectangular prism bar and an annulus as standard shapes.
Three solids were modeled and meshed with an unstructured tetrahedron mesher. The custom Finite Element Analysis code uses a direct matrix solver to calculate steady-state temperature distribution, and the results were verified against MATLAB's built-in PDE solver, using a rectangular prism bar and an annulus as standard shapes.