How does Sauna compare with finite element modeling (FEM, FEA) software?
The finite element method (FEM), also known as finite element analysis (FEA), was developed to analysis deflection and stress in solid mechanical structures. Once the a finite element mesh has been created, it’s also possible to solve for heat flows and temperatures within the solid material. However there are three distinct modes of heat transfer: conduction, convection and radiation. FEM programs really only deal with the conduction part of the problem. For the convection part of the problem, it’s usually up to the user to enter a convection coefficient and, in general, only simple convection to the room is allowed. For thermal radiation, most FEM packages only include simple black body radiation to the room environment and there is no ability for walls of a box to radiate to each other. The result will be lengthy model creation time and incomplete models. For the most part, FEM packages are not competitive with Sauna. Nearly all Sauna users also own an FEM package, but the FEM packa
