Thermal analysis of automotive lamps using the ADINA-F coupled specular radiation and natural convection model

ADINA R&D Inc. has developed a code which has the capability to perform cou pled specular radiation and fluid flow analysis using a ray tracing method. The code has been applied to automotive lamp thermal analysis to accuratel y predict lamp surface temperatures resulting from radiation and natural co nvection heating. The results have been successfully correlated with empiri cal data using an infrared thermal imaging camera. The code predictions wer e consistently within +/-10% of measurements. The code can be applied to la rge FEA models of unstructured three-dimensional meshes with four-node tetr ahedral elements. The ADINA-F Computational Fluid Dynamics code can now be used to perform thermal validation of automotive lamps for a wide variety o f large and complex lamp designs. This capability can significantly reduce design costs and expensive prototyping. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.