Plate cooling
Forced convection cooling
"Simulate air at 25°C flowing at 5 m/s over a heated flat plate (1m long, surface temperature 100°C). Show me the thermal boundary layer development."
What SimPilot does: Sets up buoyantSimpleFoam with conjugate heat transfer, generates a structured mesh with refinement near the plate surface to resolve the thermal boundary layer, and visualizes the temperature field.
Natural convection
"Model natural convection from a vertical heated plate (0.5m tall, 80°C) in still air at 20°C. Show the convection plume."
What SimPilot does: Uses buoyantPimpleFoam for the transient buoyancy-driven flow. Sets up appropriate boundary conditions with gravity enabled and Boussinesq approximation for density variation.
Room convection
Heated room
"Simulate air circulation in a 4m x 3m x 2.5m room with a radiator (60°C) on one wall and a window (5°C) on the opposite wall. Show the temperature distribution and air flow pattern."
What SimPilot does: Creates a room geometry with thermal boundary conditions, uses buoyantSimpleFoam, and visualizes both the temperature field and velocity streamlines showing the natural convection pattern.
Ventilated room
"Model mechanical ventilation in a 5m x 4m x 3m office. Air inlet at 18°C from a ceiling diffuser (0.3 m/s), outlet at the opposite wall. There's a person (modeled as a 100W heat source) sitting in the middle. Show the comfort zone."
What SimPilot does: Combines forced and natural convection. Sets up the inlet diffuser, heat source, and outlet conditions. Produces temperature and velocity maps to evaluate thermal comfort.
Electronics cooling
CPU heat sink
"Simulate forced air cooling of a CPU heat sink. The heat sink is a 5cm x 5cm aluminum block with 8 fins (1mm thick, 2cm tall). CPU dissipates 65W. Fan blows air at 2 m/s across the fins."
What SimPilot does: Uses chtMultiRegionFoam for conjugate heat transfer between the solid aluminum heat sink and air. Computes the junction temperature and thermal resistance.
Circuit board
"Model heat dissipation from a PCB with three components (5W, 10W, and 3W) in a sealed enclosure (20cm x 15cm x 5cm). No forced cooling. What's the maximum temperature?"
What SimPilot does: Sets up a natural convection simulation inside the enclosure with heat sources at the component locations. Reports peak temperatures and identifies thermal hotspots.
For problems involving heat conduction through solids and convection in fluids simultaneously, SimPilot uses chtMultiRegionFoam. Just describe the solid and fluid regions -- the AI handles the multi-region setup.