Solutions
GT-SUITE provides advanced simulation capabilities for powertrain cooling and vehicle energy management
Solution Overview
GT-SUITE powertrain cooling models can be used to predict heat rejection to coolant, oil, and ambient, before engine hardware is available for physical testing. These models utilize a built-in finite element cylinder structure for more accurate predictions of heat distribution through the engine structure.Â
Powertrain cooling models integrated with other vehicle systems can also be used to analyze engine warm-up and fuel economy during transient drive cycles. Construction of GT-SUITE engine thermal models is enhanced by powerful 3D tools for converting CAD geometry into GT models. The flexible range of fidelity provides an ideal simulation environment for system design, component selection, and controls optimization.
Application Highlights
Advanced Features
GT-SUITE’s powertrain cooling capabilities predict engine heat rejection, thermal balance, and warm-up performance before hardware testing begins, using a built-in finite element solver integrated directly into your simulation environment.
Captures two-way interactions between the combustion chamber, thermal structure, and cooling circuits, including cylinder wall heat transfer, charge-air coolers, EGR coolers, and accessory loads, modeling the full thermal assembly as one coupled system.
A fully integrated FE solver predicts steady-state and transient engine structure temperatures with no external FEA tool required, delivering accurate thermal distributions through the block, head, liner, piston, and valves within GT-SUITE.
Models all conduction paths between heat sources and sinks to predict full engine thermal balance, including heat rejection to coolant, oil, and ambient, supporting confident design decisions before hardware is available.
Quantifies the fuel savings potential of faster warm-up strategies for engine fluids and structure across transient drive cycles, letting engineers evaluate thermostat strategies and coolant routing directly against fuel economy targets.
Choose a parametric FE cylinder for rapid setup or a custom CAD-based FE mesh for detailed component analysis, with scalable fidelity that supports every stage from concept screening to final validation.
Full powertrain cooling simulation capability is included with every GT-SUITE license, with no add-on modules required, removing procurement barriers and making thermal modeling standard practice.
Find concise answers to the most common GT-SUITE powertrain cooling questions.
GT-SUITE’s flow solution is built on the Navier-Stokes equations and stays stable even at zero flow, which is key for modeling thermostat valves during warm-up. The energy equation is always solved, giving engineers a full thermo-hydraulic picture of how the cooling system, structure, and combustion chamber interact.
Before a single prototype exists, engineers can already see how heat moves through an engine. GT-SUITE’s built-in finite element cylinder structure models heat transfer to the coolant and oil circuits using parametric geometry, keeping setup fast even for complex designs. By modeling conduction paths between every heat source and sink, it predicts thermal balance accurately enough for system design, component selection, and controls optimization, all before physical hardware is required.
Liquid circuits and thermal masses are constructed semi-automatically from 3D CAD data, significantly reducing manual setup time. Engineers can use a parametric finite element cylinder structure for quick iteration or a custom finite element mesh for detailed component analysis.
Warm-up behavior has a measurable impact on fuel economy, and GT-SUITE lets engineers study it in detail before hardware is available. Connecting powertrain cooling models to full vehicle systems allows teams to simulate warm-up strategies across transient drive cycles and compare fuel savings between different approaches. Advanced thermostat valve modeling is also supported, so warm-up optimization isn’t limited to simple on/off logic.
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