Autodesk Simulation CFD

[#1]

My question is regarding the PART results.

I have a steady state analysis that consists of a large box. This large box contains fluid and a very hot solid piece of equipment. The box has flow into it (volume flow rate) and out of it (pressure = 0). The box also has external film coefficients for ambient cooling.

When I select the PART icon on the results bar, and select the fluid domain inside my box, the output gives me Volume, Avg Temp, Max Temp, Min Temp.

My question is, what is the "Avg Temperature" really telling me. Is it giving me a weighted average of only the fluid domain? I only ask because my result is higher than I think it should be and I've double checked all my inputs. I have been calling this "Avg Temperature" value the "Bulk Average Fluid Temperature." Is this correct?

Thanks for any clarification on this.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

This is an excellent question and it is implemented differently than what you think.  The calculation that you are seeing is purely a nodal average of the volume with no weighting done for element size.  Therefore, if you have a large range of elements size in your fluid domain it could be very skewed.

-Royce