Heat Transfer Explorer
Explore the three main modes of heat transfer and see how changing temperature, area, material properties and surface conditions changes the heat-transfer rate.
Open toolCalculators and interactive tools
Calculate and explore how heat behaves
The tools cover thermal physics, buildings, electronics, human thermal environments, cooking and heat perception. Calculations run locally in your browser and expose the method and assumptions where a numerical model is used.
Fundamentals
Specific Heat & Heating Energy Calculator
Calculate how much sensible thermal energy is required to raise or lower the temperature of a material without a phase change.
Open toolPhase Change Energy Calculator
Break a heating process into sensible-heating and phase-change energy steps.
Open toolHeat transfer
Conduction Heat Loss Calculator
Estimate steady conductive heat flow through a uniform flat layer and see the effect of material conductivity and thickness.
Open toolNewton’s Law of Cooling Calculator
Estimate how an object approaches ambient temperature when internal temperature gradients are small enough for a lumped model.
Open toolRadiative Heat Transfer Calculator
Estimate net long-wave radiative heat transfer between a surface and large isothermal surroundings.
Open toolEvaporative Cooling Explorer
Estimate the temperature leaving an idealised direct evaporative cooler from entering dry-bulb conditions and cooler effectiveness.
Open toolThermal System Sandbox
Build a simple hot-fluid-to-cold-fluid thermal path and see the heat rate and temperature drop across each resistance.
Open toolTransient Conduction Explorer
Explore how thickness, diffusivity and time control the temperature response inside a slab when its surfaces are suddenly held at a new temperature.
Open toolBuildings
Multi-Layer Wall Heat Loss Calculator
Model a wall made from several material layers and see how each layer contributes to total thermal resistance.
Open toolR-Value & U-Factor Converter
Convert R-values and U-factors between SI and imperial unit systems.
Open toolDew Point & Condensation Calculator
Estimate dew-point temperature and identify whether an entered surface temperature is at or below that dew point.
Open toolInsulated Pipe Heat Loss Calculator
Estimate heat loss through a cylindrical insulation layer around a pipe.
Open toolSolar Heat Gain Explorer
Estimate solar heat gain through glazing and see the effect of area, solar irradiance and SHGC.
Open toolThermal Bridge Explorer
See how a small area of more conductive material can increase whole-assembly heat transfer.
Open toolWall Surface Temperature & Condensation Explorer
Connect wall heat transfer with indoor humidity by estimating the interior surface temperature and its margin above or below dew point.
Open toolRoom Heating Load Builder
Combine envelope transmission and a simple air-exchange load into one room heating estimate instead of treating them as separate calculations.
Open toolHeating Method Running-Cost Comparator
Compare three common heating methods on one delivered-heat basis instead of relying on separate pairwise comparisons.
Open toolMaterials
Thermal Expansion Calculator
Estimate how much a solid changes length when its temperature changes.
Open toolThermal Diffusivity Calculator
See how conductivity, density and heat capacity combine to determine how rapidly temperature disturbances spread through a material.
Open toolThermal Material Goal Explorer
Choose a thermal goal and see which reference materials rank highly for that property, with condition notes kept visible.
Open toolElectronics
Electronics Junction Temperature Calculator
Estimate junction temperature and temperature rise for an electronic component using a simple thermal-resistance model.
Open toolHeat Sink Requirement Calculator
Calculate the maximum heat-sink-to-ambient thermal resistance that keeps an idealised component thermal path below a chosen junction-temperature limit.
Open toolElectronics Thermal Resistance Network Simulator
Build a simple series thermal path and inspect temperature drops across each thermal resistance.
Open toolThermal Interface Resistance Calculator
See how interface thickness, conductivity and contact area affect the temperature drop between a component and heat sink.
Open toolElectronics Cooling Scenario Comparator
See which thermal-design change produces the largest junction-temperature reduction in a simple series resistance model.
Open toolReference
Thermal Unit Converter
Convert temperature, energy and heat-rate units in one place.
Open toolEngineering
Heat Exchanger Energy Balance Calculator
Apply a steady-flow energy balance to a two-stream sensible heat exchanger.
Open toolHeat Exchanger LMTD Explorer
Compare parallel and counterflow temperature driving forces and connect heat duty with area and overall heat-transfer coefficient.
Open toolHuman comfort
PMV / PPD Thermal Comfort Calculator
Estimate group-average thermal sensation using air temperature, mean radiant temperature, air speed, humidity, clothing insulation and metabolic rate.
Open toolHuman and environmental heat
Psychrometric Air-State Explorer
Connect dry-bulb temperature and relative humidity with dew point, approximate wet-bulb temperature and moisture content in one air-state calculation.
Open toolWBGT Calculator from Measured Temperatures
Combine measured natural wet-bulb, globe and dry-bulb temperatures using standard WBGT weighting formulas.
Open toolEnergy conversion
Energy-to-Heat Conversion Explorer
Connect energy dissipation with temperature rise while keeping the conversion fraction and thermal storage assumptions explicit.
Open toolFood & perception
Scoville Heat Explorer
Compare representative chilli pungency ranges and see where an entered Scoville Heat Unit value sits on a descriptive scale.
Open toolFood & cooking
Water Boiling Point vs Altitude Calculator
Estimate why water boils below 100 °C at higher elevations as atmospheric pressure falls.
Open toolCooking Heat Transfer Explorer
Choose a cooking method and see which heat-transfer mechanisms dominate, which are secondary and what changes the heating rate.
Open toolGas thermodynamics
Adiabatic Compression Heating Calculator
See how mechanical compression can raise gas temperature even when the idealised process adds no heat from outside.
Open toolHeat perception & materials
Thermal Effusivity & Contact Temperature Calculator
Compare thermal effusivity and estimate the ideal initial interface temperature when two materials at different temperatures touch.
Open toolMechanical heat
Friction Heating Calculator
Connect friction force and sliding speed to heat generation, then estimate an idealised temperature rise from energy, mass and specific heat.
Open toolAutomotive heat
Brake Energy & Heating Calculator
Convert a change in vehicle speed into braking energy, then estimate how much an entered brake mass could heat in an idealised model.
Open toolElectrical heat
Joule Heating Calculator
Calculate electrical power dissipated as heat in a resistive element and see how current, resistance, voltage and time affect energy.
Open toolChemical heat
Reaction Calorimetry Calculator
Use q = mcΔT to estimate solution heat and the opposite-sign reaction heat, with an optional molar heat result.
Open toolBiological heat
Metabolic Heat Production Calculator
Subtract external mechanical work from metabolic power to estimate internal heat production, then calculate the corresponding thermal energy over time.
Open toolEarth heat
Geothermal Gradient Explorer
Estimate temperature with depth from a user-selected geothermal gradient and compare the result with the limits of a simple linear model.
Open toolSpace & radiation
Blackbody Peak Wavelength Calculator
Calculate the wavelength at which an ideal blackbody spectrum peaks and see how hotter objects shift toward shorter wavelengths.
Open toolPlanetary Equilibrium Temperature Calculator
Balance globally averaged absorbed stellar radiation against thermal emission to estimate an idealised effective temperature.
Open toolHuman and environmental heat
Heat Index & Heat Stress Explorer
Calculate National Weather Service heat index and understand why humidity, sun, workload, clothing and acclimatisation make heat stress more complex than one apparent-temperature number.
Open tool