Solar Heating and Solar Heating Space

Use a Solar Heating or Solar Heating Space simulation object to model the thermal effects of the sun on your model for a day, a part of a day, or for a fixed sun position for a model situated on the Earth. The Solar Heating Space and Solar Heating simulation objects calculate direct solar view factors at a fixed sun position or at calculation points along the sun's trajectory. Solar view factors are the direct view of an element to the solar source, which is treated as a distant point source.

You can use the Solar Heating Space and Solar Heating simulation objects, for example, to model the thermal effects of the sun on exterior equipment, buildings, and installations on Earth.

You can also use the Solar Heating Space simulation object to model the thermal effects of the sun on:

• Spacecraft.

• Objects on the surface of celestial objects.

When you specify the Solar Heating Space simulation object, you can use the predefined solar flux parameters from available celestial bodies, or specify your own.

Solar Heating and Solar Heating Space prerequisites

• All elements on which you define a Solar Heating or Solar Heating Space simulation object must have a defined solar absorptivity. See Thermo-Optical Properties - Advanced dialog box (Thermal/SST/ESC/Multiphysics) for more information.

• To account for radiative heat diffusely reflected to and from the elements, you must create a Radiation simulation object that includes all affected elements. See Radiation for more information.

Defining the model's orientation

The options on the Model Orientation tab of the Solar Heating dialog box and the Solar Heating Space dialog box let you position the model in relation to the sun.

Defining the solar flux for the analysis

The options on the Solar Flux tab of the Solar Heating dialog box and the Solar Heating Space dialog box let you model the sun radiation, the effects of atmospheric attenuation, overcast, diffuse sky radiation, and ground reflection in your analysis.

You can define your own values to model specific scenarios from which you know the solar flux, and other atmospheric effects.

Where do I find it?

Application	Pre/Post
Command Finder	Solar Heating or Solar Heating Space
Simulation Navigator	Right-click the Simulation Objects node→New Simulation Object→Solar Heating or Solar Heating Space

How do I

Define Solar Heating

Define Solar Heating Space

Learn more

Defining model orientation for solar heating

Defining a solar flux

Inputs to expressions

Look up more details

Auto-generated expressions

Quick links

Simcenter 3D Thermal/Flow, Electronic Systems Cooling, and Space Systems Thermal boundary conditions

Thermal/Flow, Electronic Systems Cooling, and Space Systems Thermal

Command reference

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Solar Heating and Solar Heating Space, Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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