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SINDA/FLUINT (Ref 1, 2) is a computer program used to analyze thermal/Fluid systems that can be represented in finite difference, finite element, or lumped parameter form. In addition to conduction and radiation heat transfer, the program is capable of modeling steady or unsteady single- and two-phase flow networks, their associated hardware, and their heat transfer processes. Because it is generalized, versatile, and user-extensible, SINDA/FLUINT is a standard in the aerospace industry for modeling thermal control systems. It is also used in the automotive, aircraft, electronics, petrochemical, HVACR (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration), and process industries. C&R's SinapsPlus™ (Ref 3), a replacement for SINAPS, is a complete graphical user interface to SINDA/FLUINT. SinapsPlus is a schematic-oriented pre- and postprocessor that brings modern visualization methods to a simulation code that lacks geometric constraints.

The trend towards concurrent engineering requires that designers and engineers of all disciplines share a common engineering database. Incorporation of existing radiation solvers into the CAD environment has had limited success, chiefly due to the limited set of surface types that can be analyzed and the incompatibility with FEM generated meshes. This paper describes RadCAD™, a new radiation analyzer integrated within the CAD environment. In addition to the basic set of conic surfaces, RadCAD also analyzes arbitrary free form surfaces and directly supports FEM meshes. The motivation, design approach, and algorithmic improvements for RadCAD are presented.