Heat transfer and materials
Calculate conduction, convection, radiation, heat flux, heating energy, thermal expansion and diffusivity. Compare the material properties that drive those results.
Thermal science you can work with
Understand how heat moves, changes and transfers.
Use interactive calculators, visualisations, material data and detailed guides to explore heat transfer, insulation, electronics cooling, thermal comfort and everyday thermal behaviour.
What happens when insulation gets thicker?
For the same material, area and temperature difference, increasing thickness raises thermal resistance and reduces steady-state conductive heat flow.
Thickness50 mm → 100 mm
Relative conduction1.0 → 0.5
RelationshipQ̇ ∝ 1/L for this simple model
Use the site by problem, rather than by formula
The site connects calculations to explanations and reference data, so a result can lead naturally to the science behind it.
Buildings and insulation
Build wall assemblies layer by layer, compare R-values and U-values, examine thermal bridges, estimate room transmission losses and explore condensation conditions.
Electronics and cooling
Estimate junction temperature, heat-sink requirements and thermal-resistance networks, then follow the links into heat spreading and thermal-interface concepts.
Human thermal environment
Explore dew point, humidity, evaporative cooling, heat index and PMV/PPD while keeping the limits of simplified comfort and heat-stress models visible.
Heating and energy systems
Compare heat-pump and furnace energy costs, calculate sensible and phase-change energy, estimate solar heat gain and examine heat-exchanger energy balances.
Everyday thermal science
Use the learning library to understand why metal feels colder than wood, why thermal mass matters, how cookware spreads heat and why evaporation cools a surface.
Core calculators
23 calculators and interactive tools cover fundamentals, buildings, electronics, energy systems and thermal comfort. Each tool states its method and assumptions.
Heat Transfer Explorer
Switch between conduction, convection and thermal radiation and see how the governing variables change the heat-transfer rate.
Specific Heat & Heating Energy
Calculate sensible heating or cooling energy and optional ideal heating time from mass, specific heat and temperature change.
Multi-Layer Wall Heat Loss
Select materials, change thicknesses, add or remove layers, and see each layer's contribution to total resistance and transmission heat loss.
Radiative Heat Transfer
Estimate net thermal radiation exchange using surface temperature, surrounding temperature, emissivity and area.
Thermal Resistance Network
Follow a simplified electronics heat path from junction to case, heat sink and ambient environment.
Room Heat Loss
Estimate transmission heat loss through opaque walls, windows and other surfaces using area, U-value and design temperature difference.
Learn the science behind the calculations
The learning library contains 39 in-depth resources. The guides define concepts, explain equations, show where simplified models apply and connect directly to relevant tools.
Heat and temperature
Understand why temperature describes thermal state while heat describes energy transferred because of a temperature difference.
Thermal conductivity
Learn what W/(m·K) means, why conductivity varies between materials and conditions, and how it appears in Fourier's law.
Thermal diffusivity
See how conductivity, density and specific heat combine to describe the rate at which temperature changes spread through a material.
Insulation
Follow the connection from conductivity and thickness to thermal resistance, U-value and real building-envelope limitations.
Thermal comfort
Understand why air temperature alone cannot describe how a thermal environment feels to occupants.
Electronics cooling
Trace heat from a component junction through interfaces, heat sinks and the surrounding air.
Compare thermal properties with their conditions attached
The reference database currently contains 10 carefully labelled representative materials. Compare thermal conductivity, specific heat, density and calculated diffusivity while keeping condition notes visible.
Conductivity
Compare how readily materials conduct heat. High conductivity can help heat spreading, while low conductivity can help insulation.
Heat storage
Compare specific heat and density to understand why equal volumes or equal masses can respond differently to the same added energy.
Diffusivity
Compare the combined effect of conductivity, density and specific heat on the rate at which temperature changes spread.