Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Enterprise-Grade Multiphysics for the Most Complex Thermal Challenges
Multiphysics CFD for the thermal problems that general electronics-cooling tools were not built for — two-phase, immersion, radiation-dominant, moving parts, and coupled physics.
What It Is
STAR-CCM+ is the tool of choice when conjugate heat transfer is coupled with boiling, condensation, radiation, rotating machinery, or non-Newtonian fluids. It is the natural next step after Flotherm or FLOEFD when the physics stops being straightforward.
Core Capabilities
Core capabilities
- Polyhedral, trimmed and overset meshing
- multi-phase heat transfer (boiling, condensation, evaporation, film cooling)
- radiation (surface-to-surface, participating media, solar, discrete ordinates, Monte Carlo)
- electrochemical-thermal battery coupling, cell-to-pack
- RANS, LES, DES and hybrid turbulence
- reactive flow and combustion heat transfer
- fluid-structure interaction for thermal stress and fatigue
- Design Manager for automated DoE, optimization and sensitivity studies
- GPU acceleration and cloud-native HPC scaling
- adjoint-based thermal optimization
- co-simulation with Amesim, Simcenter 3D and MATLAB/Simulink
- machine-learning surrogate thermal models
Best For
- AI compute liquid and two-phase immersion cooling
- Battery pack thermal management
- Space and aerospace radiation-dominant thermal
- High-power-density electronics
- Cold-plate and manifold design
- Coupled thermal-structural analysis
Six-stage workflow position
Why engineering teams choose STAR-CCM+.
Representative engineering situations these tools are asked to resolve.
- 01
An AI compute node dissipating 40 kW per rack exceeds the ASHRAE TC 9.9 A2 air-cooled envelope, and two-phase dielectric immersion is the only remaining option — but no one in the team has modelled boiling. STAR-CCM+ resolves nucleate boiling, vapour transport, and condenser return so the tank geometry and fluid choice are decided on physics rather than on a vendor's claim.
- 02
A satellite payload rejects 380 W into a passive radiator whose sun-facing view factors change every 90 minutes in low Earth orbit. STAR-CCM+ couples orbital solar loading, surface-to-surface radiation, and conduction through the bonded interfaces — a transient radiation problem that electronics-cooling CFD was never built to solve.
- 03
A cold plate under a 1200 V SiC module runs stably on the bench and then shows a 25 °C local excursion in service because one channel reaches dryout at reduced flow. STAR-CCM+ resolves the two-phase flow front and identifies the channel-geometry change that keeps the wall wetted across the full duty cycle.
- ASHRAE TC 9.9 H1 liquid-cooled class
- ECSS-E-ST-31C thermal control
- Consumes AEC / MIL / DO evidence at system level
- CFD specialist
- Thermal engineer
- Systems engineer
“Simcenter STAR-CCM+ gives us the confidence to explore multiphysics interactions — thermal, flow, and structural — in a single model instead of stitching together separate analyses.”
Customer statement published by Siemens. Not an Electro Source engagement.
How this reaches your team.
Delivered by Electro Source with two-phase and radiation setup training, and coupled-physics workflow support. Contract STAR-CCM+ studies available via ROIfast™ when the physics is unfamiliar to your team.
Discuss Your Multiphysics Thermal Problem
Describe the coupled physics — two-phase, radiation, rotation, structural — and what decision the simulation needs to support.