Home › FEA Services › FEA Thermal Analysis Services
Thermal stress, expansion, and hot spots solved before tooling, not in returns
Send your CAD and heat loads. Get a roadmap to a part that holds.
Most structural models assume the part sits at one temperature. Real parts heat up, cool down, and heat unevenly. FEA thermal analysis services model how heat flows through your design and where it builds up. They also show the thermal stress that expansion creates when parts are bolted, bonded, or held in place.
When heat is left out, teams do one of two things. They add margin, fans, or heavier material until the problem goes away, and pay for it on every unit. Or they find the crack, the warp, or the failed seal in test. There, every redesign costs a prototype and weeks.
PPS runs thermal stress analysis alongside our FEA consulting services and pressure vessel stress analysis. Our thermal fatigue analysis services show where heat really goes and what it does to the structure. You get a design that runs cooler, lasts longer, and costs no more than it has to.
✓
Parts warp, or show cracking from thermal cycling
The part passes static checks, then fails after heat-up and cool-down.
✓
Hot spots you only find on the bench
Thermocouples show temperatures nobody predicted.
✓
Mixed materials bolted, welded, or bonded
Different expansion rates load the joints, welds, and seals.
✓
Seals, gaskets, or fits that leak when hot
Clearances change as parts grow, and the seal lets go.
✓
Electronics or batteries that run too hot
Heat shortens component life and can trip shutdowns.
✓
Fins, fans, or material added just in case
Cooling and weight you pay for on every unit.
A widely cited industry estimate holds that about 70–80% of a product’s lifetime cost is committed during design. Thermal choices sit inside that number: cooling, material, and wall thickness are set long before the first part heats up.
Cost you carry
Decision it lets you make
Result
Unit cost
Material & weight
Decision
Know where heat goes and how hot each part gets, then size cooling and material to the real load.
→
Result
A part with no extra fins, fans, or mass you don't need.
Development
Prototypes & testing
Decision
Predict temperatures, thermal expansion, and stress before the build, and go to test to confirm.
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Result
Fewer prototype loops and shorter thermal test phases.
Tooling
Rework & redesign
Decision
Find the crack, the warp, or the seal leak in simulation and fix the geometry before steel is cut.
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Result
No redesign after first article; tooling is built once.
After launch
Field failures & warranty
Decision
Model real duty cycles, start-ups, and shutdowns, and release with margins you can document.
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Result
Fewer cracked parts and claims, and a design you can defend in review.
01
A design that meets your loads at the lowest total cost, delivered as production-ready CAD and drawings
02
FEA results and margins you review and approve at each gate, before anything moves to prototyping.
03
You own the IP by default, set in your contract.
04
If we missed it in our QC, we fix it. If your supplier can't make the part within three years, or supply dries up, we fix that too.
You send
What we need to start
CAD, native or STEP
Loads and operating conditions, or how the part is used
Material specs or test data, if you have it
Targets: weight, cost, life, or code
Failure history, if a part already failed
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You get
What you hold at the end
The optimized design: CAD and drawings ready for production
Models and results you reviewed and approved
Documented margins or code compliance
Test correlation, when testing is in scope: a partner lab or yours
A roadmap for what comes next, and a team that stays with you
We price to the value we deliver, not the hours we log. If the value isn't there for you, we'll say so in the assessment.
We review your project scope and the CAD, heat loads, and history you have, and screen where heat drives the risk.
Scope, targets, and gates, from where you are to where you need to be.
Thermal and stress FEA with CAD changes, plus testing when the design needs it.
The design, drawings, and models, second-checked in our QMS.
We stand behind the design through production and supply issues.
PPS engineers run FEA, CFD, and DFMA as one loop. CFD sets how heat leaves the part, and thermal FEA turns temperatures into stress. CAD changes follow, and manufacturing cost is checked before tooling. The design you approve is the design that ships.
One temperature, no expansion
Or add fins until it does
Tooling and test article paid for
Heat cycling finds the weak joint
New geometry, new prototype, new test
Where heat drives the risk
Temperatures, then thermal stress
Geometry refined to real margins
Second engineer verifies the model
Build once, to confirm
Every prototype loop you fund is margin lost. Get a free roadmap.
Get Your Free RoadmapThermal gradients, cycling, and mixed materials checked so flight parts and housings keep their fits.
Lighter parts, proven.
Applications
Thermal Cycles
Composites
Avionics
Bolted Joints
Start-up and shutdown transients modeled for casings, piping, and supports that see the highest stress.
Fewer forced outages.
Applications
Transients
Creep
Piping
Casings
Heat paths through racks, enclosures, and cooling hardware mapped so equipment runs cool at full load.
Run cool at full load.
Applications
Hot Spots
Enclosures
Cooling
Airflow
Exhaust, engine, and battery heat traced into brackets, housings, and seals before the first vehicle test.
Pass the heat soak once.
Applications
Exhaust Heat
Batteries
Seals
Brackets
FEA, CFD, CAD, DFMA, and testing under one roof. Engineering is a team sport, and you get the whole team.
One team, every skill.
Under One Roof
FEA
CFD
CAD
DFMA
Testing
Veteran-owned SDVOSB status gives defense and federal buyers a set-aside path to proven engineering.
Verify our SDVOSB status.
Credentials
SDVOSB
VOSB
CAGE 8ZK73
NAICS 541330
Missed something in our QC? We fix it. Supplier can't make the part within three years? We fix that too.
Support for the long run.
We Fix
Our QC Misses
Supplier Gaps
Supply Chain
We price to the value we deliver, not hours logged. You buy a design that works, not more iterations.
Pay for the result only.
Collections
Gold
Platinum
Diamond
When does my design need FEA thermal analysis services?
Your design needs FEA thermal analysis services when temperature, not only mechanical load, decides whether the part survives. Most structural checks assume one temperature. Real parts heat unevenly, and parts that grow at different rates load each other. That thermal stress hides in a cold model, where nobody checks it. Watch for five signs. Parts crack or warp after thermal cycling. Bench tests find hot spots nobody predicted. Mixed materials are bolted, welded, or bonded together. Seals or fits leak when hot. Or fins and material were added just in case. Each one costs you extra material on every unit, or a failure in test.
PPS reviews your project scope and data in a free assessment and tells you where heat drives the risk. If a simple check is enough, we say so. That is when thermal analysis earns its cost. Piping is a common case: under ASME B31.3, pipe stress analysis services check what heat does to nozzles and supports. Where heat causes yielding, our nonlinear analysis FEA takes over.
Do you use FEA, CFD, or both for thermal analysis?
Our FEA thermal analysis services use FEA alone when heat moves mainly by conduction through solid parts, and known film coefficients describe the cooling. That covers many housings, brackets, fixtures, and bolted assemblies. FEA then turns the temperatures into stress on the same mesh, so one model answers both questions. When airflow or coolant decides where the heat goes, guessed coefficients become the weak point. A wrong film value can move a hot spot or hide one. Heat crossing bolted joints and straps also needs care, because contact resistance is hard to guess. NASA's thermal control survey covers that contact conductance in detail.
Then we add CFD thermal simulation. Our heat transfer solutions model the fluid, and the temperatures map onto the FEA model for the stress. We run the work in ANSYS Mechanical and Abaqus, the thermal simulation software most suppliers already use. The free assessment tells you which approach your design needs, so you pay only for the physics that matter. Native model files come back to you at delivery.
What do you need from us to start?
To start a project with our FEA thermal analysis services, send what you have, in any format. That usually means CAD, native or STEP, heat loads or temperatures, and material specs or test data. Add your targets for temperature, life, or cost, and any failure history. Test reports help too. Missing data is a common reason engineering projects stall. A model built on guessed inputs gives a guessed answer, and a guessed answer can cost a prototype. That is why we don't start the work until every data set is in. For gaps in material data, NIST's Material Measurement Laboratory is a good first stop.
Once your data is in, the first step is a free assessment of your project scope. We confirm what the work can and can't answer, and tell you what is still missing. Then we send a roadmap proposal with scope, targets, and approval gates. Every project is scoped on its own, so the roadmap sets the schedule, not a stock promise. NDAs are available before you share any files.
Who owns the design and the models?
You own the IP from your FEA thermal analysis services project by default, as set in your contract. That covers the design, the drawings, and the models. Some firms keep the models or license them back to you, so every later change sends you back to them, at their price. That locks your product to one vendor. It also makes design reviews harder, because your team can't open the evidence behind the decisions. Your customers may ask for that evidence too. Export-controlled programs add another layer. The State Department's ITAR portal sets the rules for defense data, and a loose handoff can break them.
At PPS, nothing is held back to tie you to us. You receive the native CAD, the drawings, the model files, and the documented results. Your engineers can check the work, rerun a load case, or hand the package to a supplier. We sign mutual NDAs before any data is shared. Tell us about export rules at the start, and we set up data handling to match.
What happens if a prototype fails in test?
If a prototype fails in test, we find out why and fix the design. With FEA thermal analysis services from PPS, you approve the data at each gate. So a test result is checked against predictions you have already seen, not against a black box you can't open. Hard engineering carries unknowns. Real heat loads, material lots, and assembly effects never match a model perfectly. A failure in test is data, because it shows which assumption was wrong. That data improves the model and the design. NASA's standard for models and simulations sets out how to judge whether a model's results can be trusted.
When testing is in scope, our design validation services plan the test to confirm the temperatures and margins that matter most. Then we correlate the model to the results. If the miss was ours, because something slipped through our QC review, we fix it. If the test finds a condition nobody knew about, we scope the change with you and update the roadmap. Either way, you get a clear answer.
How are FEA thermal analysis services priced?
We price FEA thermal analysis services to the value they deliver, not the hours we log. Hourly billing rewards extra iterations. The meter keeps running whether or not the design improves. So the cheapest quote can become the most expensive project once tooling, rework, and field failures show up. Federal buyers know this risk well. The Federal Acquisition Regulation notes that a time-and-materials contract gives the contractor no positive profit incentive for cost control or labor efficiency. Our incentive runs the other way: get the design right the first time. We engage by fit, not as a ladder, so you start where your need is.
Gold (from $35K): you have one project and need help with it. Platinum (from $15K/mo): you have recurring work at a steady rhythm. Diamond (from $800K/yr): you have a long development program, often multi-year. Gold is never required, and these are starting points, not quotes. We price to the value we deliver, not the hours we log. If the value isn't there for you, we'll say so in the assessment.
Not sure heat is the cause? Send the model. Get a free roadmap.
Send your model and heat loads. We review your project scope in a free assessment and reply within one business day with next steps.
On-site assessments that require travel are quoted separately.
