The Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems (TMATS) software package is a library of building blocks that can be assembled to represent any thermodynamic system in the Simulink® (MathWorks, Inc.) environment. These elements, along with a Newton Raphson solver (also provided as part of the T-MATS package), enable users to create models of a wide variety of systems. The updated version of T-MATS (v1.1.1) includes the integration of Cantera, an open source thermodynamic simulation tool. T-MATS was initially described in detail in LEW-19165-1, "Toolbox for Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems (T-MATS)", Software Tech Briefs (September 2014), p. 11.

Cantera is an object-oriented analysis package that calculates thermodynamic solutions for any mixture defined by the user. Integration of Cantera with TMATS extends the range of systems that may be modeled using the toolbox. In addition, the library of elements released with Cantera was developed using MATLAB native M-files, allowing for faster prototyping of elements.

Cantera calculates the thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, and transport properties of any flow. The thermodynamic properties of the species of interest are read from text input files, similar to how inputs are handled by the NASA Chemical Equilibrium Analysis (CEA) package. Since the Cantera files can be managed at run time, the chemical solution for the problem can be as simple or as complex as the user desires. Communication between Simulink and Cantera is handled through MATLAB functions and classes that are part of the T-MATS Cantera release.

In addition to providing a mechanism for interfacing with Cantera, the T-MATS Cantera package includes a set of engineering components forming a baseline library for model development. This library contains blocks for all the components required to build a separate flow turbofan model, and are written using the MATLAB M-file format. The M-file format enables quick prototyping since the code does not need to be compiled. Thermodynamic information is passed between elements using specially formatted data arrays.

This work was done by Thomas M. Lavelle, Jeffryes W. Chapman, Ryan D. May, Jonathan S. Litt, and Ten-Huei Guo of Glenn Research Center. NASA invites and encourages companies to inquire about partnering opportunities. Contact NASA Glenn Research Center’s Technology Transfer Program at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit us on the Web at https://technology.grc.nasa.gov/ . Please reference LEW-19165-2.