INTRODUCTION TO

COMSOL Multiphysics
Introduction to COMSOL Multiphysics
© 1998–2023 COMSOL
Protected by patents listed on www.comsol.com/patents, or see Help>About COMSOL Multiphysics on the File
menu in the COMSOL Desktop for less detailed lists of U.S. Patents that may apply. Patents pending.
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Version: COMSOL 6.2

Contact Information
Visit the Contact COMSOL page at www.comsol.com/contact to submit general inquiries or
search for an address and phone number. You can also visit the Worldwide Sales Offices page at
www.comsol.com/contact/offices for address and contact information.

If you need to contact Support, an online request form is located on the COMSOL Access page
at www.comsol.com/support/case. Other useful links include:

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• Support Knowledge Base: www.comsol.com/support/knowledgebase

Part number: CM010004

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
COMSOL Desktop® . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Example 1: Structural Analysis of a Wrench. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Model Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Global Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Physics and Boundary Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Convergence Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Example 2: The Busbar — A Multiphysics Model . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Model Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Global Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
The Auto Completion and Find Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Physics and Boundary Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

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 Building an Application with the Application Builder . . . . . 117
Overview of Advanced Topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Advanced Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Parameters, Functions, Variables, and Couplings . . . . . . . . . 136
Material Properties and Material Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Adding Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Adding Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Parametric Sweeps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Parallel Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
COMSOL Multiphysics Client–Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Using the Model Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Creating a Local Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Version Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Working with a Draft of the Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Comparing Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Excluding Built, Computed, and Plotted Data . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Importing Auxiliary Data to the Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
The Model Manager Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Appendix A — Building a Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Appendix B — Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Appendix C — Language Elements and Reserved Names . . 239
Appendix D — File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Appendix E — Connecting with LiveLink™ Add-Ons . . . . . . 263
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

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Introduction

Read this book if you are new to COMSOL Multiphysics. It provides an

overview of the COMSOL environment with examples that show you how to use
the COMSOL Desktop user interface and the Model Builder. It also provides a
quick introduction to creating applications and add-ins using the Application
Builder as well as a quick introduction to the Model Manager.
If you have not yet installed the software, install it now according to the
instructions at www.comsol.com/product-download.
In addition to this book, an extensive documentation set is available after
installation. Tutorials can be found throughout the COMSOL website, including
in the Learning Center at www.comsol.com/support/learning-center, the Video
Gallery at www.comsol.com/videos and on the COMSOL Blog at
www.comsol.com/blogs.

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COMSOL Desktop ®

MODEL MANAGER — Click this button to switch to QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR — Use these
the Model Manager for managing different versions of buttons for access to functionality such as file
your models. open/save, undo/redo, copy/paste, and delete.

APPLICATION BUILDER —
Click this button to switch to
the Application Builder and
start building an application
based on your model.

MODEL BUILDER
TOOLBAR

MODEL TREE — The model

tree gives an overview of the
model and all of the functionality
and operations needed for
building and solving a model as
well as processing the results.

MODEL BUILDER — SETTINGS WINDOW —

The Model Builder window Click any node in the model
with its model tree and the tree to see its associated
associated toolbar buttons Settings window displayed next
gives you an overview of the to the Model Builder.
model. The modeling process
can be controlled from
context-sensitive menus
accessed by right-clicking a
node.

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RIBBON — The ribbon tabs have buttons
and drop-down lists for controlling all
steps of the modeling process. GRAPHICS WINDOW TOOLBAR

GRAPHICS WINDOW — The Graphics window presents

interactive graphics for the Geometry, Mesh, and Results nodes.
Operations include rotating, panning, zooming, and selecting.

INFORMATION W1NDOWS — The Information windows will display vital

model information during the simulation, such as the solution time, solution
progress, mesh statistics, solver logs, and, when available, results tables.

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The screenshot on the previous pages is what you will see when you first start
modeling in COMSOL Multiphysics using the Model Builder. The COMSOL
Desktop® user interface provides a complete and integrated environment for
physics modeling and simulation as well as application design, providing you with
the tools necessary to build a user-friendly interface for your models. You can
customize the desktop to your own needs. The windows can be resized, moved,
docked, and detached. Any changes you make to the layout will be saved when
you close the session and available again the next time you open COMSOL
Multiphysics. As you build your model, additional windows and widgets will be
added. (See page 28 for an example of a more developed desktop.) Among the
available windows and user interface components are the following:

Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar gives access to functionality such as Open, Save, Undo,
Redo, Copy, Paste, and Delete. You can customize its content from the Customize
Quick Access Toolbar list (the downward-facing arrow to the right of the toolbar).

Ribbon
The ribbon at the top of the desktop gives access to commands used to complete
most modeling tasks. The ribbon is only available in the Windows® version of the
COMSOL Desktop environment and is replaced by menus and toolbars in the
macOS and Linux versions. Click the Application Builder button to switch from
the Model Builder to the Application Builder and start building an application
based on your model.

Settings Window
This is the main window for entering all of the specifications of the model,
including the dimensions of the geometry, properties of the materials, boundary
conditions and initial conditions, and any other information that the solver will

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need to carry out the simulation. The picture below shows the Settings window for
the Geometry node.

Plot Windows
These are the windows for graphical output. In addition to the Graphics window,
Plot windows are used for visualizing results. Several Plot windows can be used to
show multiple results simultaneously. A special case is the Convergence Plot
window, an automatically generated Plot window that displays a graphical
indication of the convergence of the solution process while a model is running.

Information Windows
These are the windows for nongraphical information. They include:
• Messages: Various information about the current COMSOL Multiphysics
session is displayed in this window.
• Progress: Progress information from the solver in addition to stop buttons.
• Log: Information from the solver, such as the number of degrees of freedom,
solution time, and solver iteration data.
• Table: Numerical data in table format as defined in the Results node.
• External Process: Provides a control panel for cluster, cloud, and batch jobs.

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Other Windows
The Windows drop-down list in the Home tab of the ribbon gives you access to all
COMSOL Desktop windows. On macOS and Linux, you will find this in the
Windows menu. In addition to the windows described earlier, you can access the
following windows:
• Add Physics and Add Multiphysics: Expand the physics interfaces in a model.
• Add Study: Change the type of study.
• Add Predefined Plot: Add a predefined plot associated with a physics interface.
Predefined plots are only available for certain physics interfaces.
• Add Material from Library and the Material Browser: Access the material
property libraries.
• Application Libraries: Choose among the collections of MPH-files containing
tutorial models and runnable applications with accompanying documentation.
• Part Libraries: Load one of the predefined parameterized geometry models.
• Add-in Libraries: Load one of the add-ins that provides customized
functionality.
• Selection List: Show a list of geometry objects, domains, boundaries, edges,
and points that are currently available for selection.
• Properties: View model tree node properties.
• Auxiliary Data: View auxiliary data associated with the model such as
interpolation files or CAD files.
• Messages: Display information after an operation is performed.
• Debug Log: Display debug information for methods.
• Table: Display results in table format.
• External Process: Control COMSOL Multiphysics processes running
separately.
• Comparison Result: Compare the Model Builder and Application Builder
settings of two MPH-files.
• Find and Replace: Enter a search string for finding it in the model’s settings,
tags, labels, tables, etc.
• Versions: Display model versions stored in a Model Manager database.
• Recovery Files: View recovery files.
• Physics Builder Manager: Compile user-defined physics interfaces. This is only
visible if the Physics Builder has been activated in Preferences.

Progress Bar with Cancel Button

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The Progress Bar with a button for canceling the current computation, if any, is
located in the lower right-hand corner of the COMSOL Desktop interface.

Dynamic Help
The Help window provides context-dependent help texts about windows and
model tree nodes. If you have the Help window open in your desktop (by typing
F1, for example), you will get dynamic help (in English only) when you click a
node or a window. From the Help window, you can search for other topics, such
as menu items.

The Model Builder, the Application Builder, and the

Mode l Manage r

The main components of the COMSOL Desktop environment are the Model
Builder, the Application Builder, and the Model Manager.

T HE M ODEL B UILDER
The Model Builder is the tool where you define the model and its components,
such as how to solve it, the analysis of results, and creating reports. You do that by
building a model tree. The model tree reflects the underlying data structure — the
model object — which stores the state of the model including settings for
geometry, mesh, physics, boundary conditions, studies, solvers, postprocessing,
and visualizations.

T HE A PPLICATION B UILDER
The Application Builder allows you to quickly create an application (also called an
app) with a specialized user interface that is easy to use. An application is typically
based on a model created with the Model Builder. The Application Builder
provides important tools for creating applications including the Form Editor, the
Main Window Editor, and the Method Editor. The Form Editor includes
drag-and-drop capabilities to easily access and include user interface components,
such as input fields, graphics windows, and buttons. The Main Window Editor lets
you to add ribbon tabs with buttons and menus as well as organize your layout
using subwindows. The Method Editor is a programming environment that, for
example, allows you to modify the model represented by the model object data
structure. You can also use the Method Editor to add user interface logic and
auxiliary functionality to an application. The Java programming language is used
to write code in the Method Editor, which means that all Java syntax and Java
libraries can be used.

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In the Method Editor, program code is stored in methods. A method is another
name for what is known in other programming languages as a subroutine,
function, or procedure. Methods can be used to modify the model object data
structure in the Model Builder and the Application Builder. A method can be used
both for modifying the model object of the current session and for modifying the
model object in a running application. For a quick introduction to the Application
Builder, see “Building an Application with the Application Builder” on page 117.

T HE M ODEL M ANAGER
The Model Manager is a workspace for simulation data management. It allows you
to collaborate with other users and centrally organize models and apps. The
Model Manager provides version control to track changes and updates to your
files. It will aid you in storing only relevant data of MPH-file drafts and revisions.
The Model Manager includes an advanced search tool that allows you to search
the models and applications stored in a Model Manager database for contents
based on keywords or tags. Depending on your license type, you can connect to a
local or remote and centrally managed Model Manager database. For a quick
introduction to the Model Manager, see “Using the Model Manager” on page
188.

F URTHER R EADING
This book, Introduction to COMSOL Multiphysics, gives a detailed introduction
to using the Model Builder and a quick introduction to the Application Builder
and the Model Manager. For detailed information on how to use the Application
Builder, see Introduction to Application Builder and the Application
Programming Guide. For more information on the Model Manager, see the
Reference Manual and the Model Manager Manual.

A p p l i c a t i o n s , C O M S O L S e r v e r ™, a n d C O M S O L
Compiler™

The Application Builder is included in the Windows version of COMSOL

Multiphysics. With a COMSOL Multiphysics license, apps can be run from the
COMSOL Desktop environment. Although applications cannot be built with the
macOS or Linux versions of the software, applications can still be run with
COMSOL Multiphysics on those platforms.
By using COMSOL Compiler™ you can compile your application (MPH-file) to
an executable file for Windows, Linux, and macOS. You can freely distribute
the executable and it can be run without any license file.

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With a COMSOL Server™ license, applications can be run in major web browsers
on a variety of operating systems and hardware platforms. In addition, you can run
applications by connecting to COMSOL Server with an easy-to-install COMSOL
Client for Windows.
The COMSOL Client for Windows allows a user to run applications that require
a LiveLink™ product for CAD (this functionality is not available when running
applications with a web browser).
Running applications in a web browser does not require any installation and no
web browser plug-ins are needed. Running an application in a web browser
supports interactive graphics in 1D, 2D, and 3D. In a web browser, graphics
rendering in 3D are based on WebGL™ technology, which comes with all major
web browsers. In addition, there is a COMSOL Client version for Android
available in the Google Play™ store.
To create an application based on your model,
click the Application Builder button, accessible
from the Home tab on the ribbon.
For more information on creating COMSOL
applications, refer to the section “Building an
Application with the Application Builder” on page
117 and the book Introduction to Application
Builder.

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Pr efere n ces

Preferences are settings that affect the modeling environment. Most are persistent
between modeling sessions, but some are saved with the model. You access the
preferences from the File menu by selecting Preferences.

In the Preferences window, you can change settings such as graphics rendering, the
number of displayed digits for results, the maximum number of CPU cores used
for computations, or paths to user-defined application libraries. Take a moment to
browse your current settings to familiarize yourself with the different options.

G RAPHICS AND P LOT W INDOWS

In the Graphics page, there are two graphics rendering options available: OpenGL
and Software Rendering. If your computer does not have a dedicated graphics card,
you may have to switch to Software Rendering for slower but fully functional
graphics. A list of recommended graphics cards can be found at:
www.comsol.com/system-requirements

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C OLOR T HEMES
In the User Interface > Color Themes page, there are three color theme preferences:
• Desktop color theme: Choose between a Default, Light, or Dark theme for the
COMSOL Desktop environment.
• Graphics color theme: Choose a color theme for the Graphics window.
• Image export color theme: Choose a color theme for exported images.

When using the Dark theme in Linux, some controls take their color from the
operating system’s theme. You will get a better user experience by picking both a
dark-looking theme in Linux and the Dark theme in the COMSOL Desktop
environment.

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Opening and Saving Files from the File Menu

The File menu provides several options for opening and saving model files on the
COMSOL MPH-file format, as well as a few other supported formats.

• New lets you create a new model from scratch.

• Run Application opens and runs an application if a runnable application
definition is available in the chosen MPH-file.
• Open opens an existing file
from the file system using
the Open dialog box.

16 |
• Open From opens
an existing file
from either the file
system or from a
Model Manager
database (see
“Using the Model
Manager” on page
188).
• Recent opens a recently opened file from the file system or from a Model
Manager database.
• Application Libraries opens a tutorial model or a runnable application from the
Application Libraries.
• Save saves the current file.
• Save As lets you save the
current file to the file system
with a new name using the
Save As dialog box.

• Save To lets you

save to a Model
Manager database.

• Revert to Saved opens the last saved version of the file and reinitializes the
user interface.

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Creating a New Model

You can set up a model guided by the Model Wizard or start from a Blank Model as
shown in the figure below.

C REATING A M ODEL G UIDED BY THE M ODEL W IZARD

The Model Wizard will guide you in setting up the space dimension, physics, and
study type in a few steps:
1 Start by selecting the space dimension for your model component: 3D, 2D
Axisymmetric, 2D, 1D Axisymmetric, or 0D.

2 Now, add one or more physics interfaces. These are organized in a number of
physics branches in order to make them easy to locate. These branches do not
directly correspond to products. When products are added to your COMSOL

18 |
Multiphysics installation, one or more branches will be populated with
additional physics interfaces.

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3 Select the Study type that represents the solver or set of solvers that will be used
for the computation.

Finally, click Done. The desktop is now displayed with the model tree configured
according to the choices you made in the Model Wizard.

C REATING A B LANK M ODEL

The Blank Model option will open the COMSOL Desktop interface without any
Component or Study. You can right-click the model tree to add a Component of a
certain space dimension, physics interface, or Study.

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T h e R i b b o n , Q u i c k A c c e s s To o l b a r , a n d G r a p h i c s M e n u s

The ribbon tabs in the COMSOL Desktop environment reflect the modeling
workflow and give an overview of the functionality available for each modeling
step, including building simulation applications from your models.

The Home tab contains buttons for the most common operations for making
changes to a model, running simulations, and for building and testing
applications. Examples include changing model parameters for a parameterized
geometry, reviewing material properties and physics, building the mesh, running
a study, and visualizing the simulation results.
There are standard tabs for each of the main steps in the modeling process. These
are ordered from left to right according to the workflow: Definitions, Geometry,
Materials, Physics, Mesh, Study, Results, and Developer.
Contextual tabs are shown only if they are needed, such as the 3D Plot Group tab,
which is shown when the corresponding plot group is added or when the node is
selected in the model tree.

Modal tabs are used for very specific operations, when other operations on the
ribbon may become temporarily irrelevant. An example is the Work Plane modal
tab. When working with work planes, other tabs are not shown, since they do not
present relevant operations.

T HE R IBBON VS . T HE M ODEL B UILDER

The ribbon gives quick access to available commands and complements the model
tree in the Model Builder window. Most of the functionality accessed from the
ribbon is also accessible from contextual menus by right-clicking nodes in the
model tree. Certain operations are only available from the ribbon, such as selecting
which desktop window to display. In the COMSOL Desktop interface for macOS
and Linux®, this functionality is available from toolbars, which replace the ribbon
on these platforms. There are also operations that are only available from the
model tree, such as reordering and disabling nodes.

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T HE Q UICK A CCESS T OOLBAR
The Quick Access Toolbar contains a set of commands that are independent of the
ribbon tab that is currently displayed. You can customize the Quick Access Toolbar
and add most commands available in the File menu, including commands for
undoing and redoing recent actions, as well as for copying, pasting, duplicating,
and deleting nodes in the model tree. You can also choose to position the Quick
Access Toolbar above or below the ribbon.

T HE G RAPHICS M ENUS
As an alternative to using the model tree or the ribbon, you can right-click in the
Graphics window to access context-dependent menus. The menus shown will
depend on which node is currently selected in the model tree. By using the Go To
option, when available, you can jump to a context menu for another node in the
model tree.

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MAC OS AND L INUX 
In the COMSOL Desktop environment for macOS and Linux, the ribbon is
replaced by a set of menus and toolbars.

The instructions in this book are based on the Windows® version of the COMSOL
Desktop environment. However, running COMSOL Multiphysics and the
COMSOL Desktop environment in macOS and Linux is very similar, keeping in
mind that the ribbon user interface components can instead be found in the
corresponding menus and toolbars. In addition, the Application Builder is only
available in the Windows® version. However, you can run apps in all supported
operating systems.

The Mode l Builder and the M o del Tree

Using the Model Builder, you build a model by starting with the default model
tree, adding nodes, and editing the node settings.
All of the nodes in the default model tree are top-level parent nodes. You can
right-click on them to see a list of child nodes, or subnodes, that you can add
beneath them. This is the means by which nodes are added to the tree.
When you click on a child node, you will see its node settings in the Settings
window. It is here that you can edit node settings.
It is worth noting that if you have the Help window open, which is achieved either
by selecting Help from the File menu or by pressing the function key F1, then you
will also get dynamic help (in English only) when you click on a node.

T HE R OOT , G LOBAL D EFINITIONS , AND R ESULTS N ODES

A model tree always has a root node
(initially labeled Untitled.mph), a
Global Definitions node, and a Results
node. The label on the root node is the
name of the multiphysics model file, or
MPH-file, to which the model is saved.
The root node has settings for author
name, default unit system, and more.
The Global Definitions node has a Parameters and a Materials subnode by default.
The Global Definitions node is where you can, among other things, define
parameters, variables, functions, and couplings that can be used throughout the

| 23
model tree. They can be used, for example, to define the values and functional
dependencies of material properties, forces, geometry, and other relevant features.
The Global Definitions node itself has no settings, but its child nodes have plenty
of them. The Materials subnode stores material properties that can be referenced
in the Component nodes of a model.
The Results node is where you access the solution after performing a simulation
and where you find tools for processing the data. The Results node initially has five
subnodes:
• Datasets, which contains a list of solutions you can
work with.
• Derived Values, which defines values to be derived
from the solution using a number of
postprocessing tools.
• Tables, which is a convenient destination for the
Derived Values or for Results generated by probes
that monitor the solution in real-time while the
simulation is running.
• Export, which defines numerical data, images, and animations to be exported
to files.
• Reports, which collects reports about the model in the HTML, Microsoft
Word, and Microsoft PowerPoint formats.
To these five default subnodes, you may also add more Plot Group subnodes that
define graphs to be displayed in the Graphics window or in Plot windows. Some of
these may be created automatically, depending on the type of simulations you are
performing, but you may include additional figures by right-clicking on the Results
node and choosing from the list of plot types. In addition, you can add an
Evaluation Group node, which is similar to the Derived Values node but with tightly
associated Evaluation Group tables, and a Parameters node for parameters used
exclusively in Results.

T HE C OMPONENT AND S TUDY N ODES

In addition to the three nodes just described, there are
two additional top-level node types: Component nodes
and Study nodes. These are usually created by the Model
Wizard when you start a new model. After using the
Model Wizard to specify what type of physics you are
modeling and what type of Study (for example,
steady-state, time-dependent, frequency-domain, or eigenfrequency analysis) you

24 |
will carry out, the Model Wizard automatically creates one node of each type and
shows you their contents.
It is also possible to add
more Component and Study
nodes as you develop the
model. A model can
contain multiple
Component and Study
nodes and it would be
confusing if they all had
the same name. Therefore,
these types of nodes can be
renamed to be descriptive
of their individual
purposes.
If a model has multiple
Component nodes, they can
be coupled to form a more
sophisticated sequence of
simulation steps.
Note that each Study node
may carry out a different
type of computation, so Keyboard Shortcuts
each one has a separate
Compute button .
To be more specific, suppose that you build a model that simulates a coil assembly
that is made up of two parts: a coil and a coil housing. You can create two
Component nodes: one that models the coil and another that models the coil
housing. You can then rename each of the nodes with the name of the object.
Similarly, you can also create two Study nodes, the first simulating the stationary
or steady-state behavior of the assembly, and the second simulating the frequency
response. You can rename these two nodes to be Stationary and Frequency Domain.
When the model is complete, save it to a file named Coil Assembly.mph. At that
point, the model tree in the Model Builder looks like the figure below.

| 25
In this figure, the root node is named Coil
Assembly.mph, indicating the file in which
the model is saved. The Global Definitions
node and the Results node each have their
default name. Additionally, there are two
Component nodes and two Study nodes
with the names chosen in the previous
paragraph.

P ARAMETERS , V ARIABLES , AND S COPE

Global Parameters
Global parameters are user-defined constant scalars that are usable throughout the
model. That is to say, they are “global” in nature. Important uses are:
• Parameterizing geometric dimensions.
• Specifying mesh element sizes.
• Defining parametric sweeps (simulations that are repeated for a variety of
different values of a parameter such as a frequency or load).
A global parameter expression can contain numbers, global parameters, built-in
constants, built-in and user-defined functions with global parameter expressions
as arguments, and unary and binary operators. For a list of available operators, see
“Appendix C — Language Elements and Reserved Names” on page 239. Because
these expressions are evaluated before a simulation begins, global parameters
cannot depend on the time variable, t. Likewise, they cannot depend on spatial
variables like x, y, or z, nor on the dependent variables for which your equations
are solving.
It is important to know that the names of parameters are case sensitive.

26 |
You define global parameters in the Parameters node in the model tree under
Global Definitions.

Note that you can add multiple Parameters nodes and they will be named
Parameters 1, Parameters 2, etc. In addition, Parameters can be organized into
several cases and then swept over. For more information, see “Parametric Sweeps”
on page 169.
The following spread shows an example of a customized desktop with additional
windows.

| 27
 QUICK ACCESS
TOOLBAR SETTINGS WINDOW RIBBON

MODEL BUILDER
WINDOW

MODEL TREE

28 |
 DYNAMIC HELP — Continuously updated with online access to the
GRAPHICS WINDOW Knowledge Base and Application Gallery. The Help window enables
easy browsing with extended search functionality.

PLOT WINDOW —
The Plot window is
used to visualize
Results quantities,
probes, and
convergence plots.
Several Plot windows
can be used to show
multiple results
simultaneously.

INFORMATION WINDOWS PROGRESS BAR WITH CANCEL BUTTON

| 29
Results Parameters
For greater flexibility, it is possible to define parameters that are only used in the
Results node. Using these parameters does not require resolving the model.

Result parameters may depend on other parameters and built-in functions.

Variables
Variables have associated Variables nodes in the model tree and can be defined
either in the Global Definitions node or in the Definitions subnode of any Component
node.

Naturally, the choice of where to define the variable depends on whether you want
it to be global (that is, usable throughout the model tree) or locally defined within
a single Component node. Like a parameter expression, a variable expression may
contain numbers, parameters, built-in constants, and unary and binary operators.
However, it may also contain variables like t, x, y, or z; functions with variable
expressions as arguments; and dependent variables that you are solving for, such
as temperature T or voltage V, in addition to their space and time derivatives.
If you have a model with many Variables nodes it may be useful to group them
together by using the Node Group feature, as shown below. You access this menu
by right-clicking the Definitions node.

Node groups can be used to group nodes in Global Definitions, Definitions under a
Component, Geometry, Materials, physics interfaces, and results.

30 |
Variables Used in Applications
Model parameters and variables can be used in applications. For example, you can
let the user of an application change the value of a parameter. In addition, variables
to be used in applications can be defined in the Application Builder, in the
application tree under the Declarations node. Such variables can also be used in
model methods.

Scope
The “scope” of a parameter or variable is a statement about where it may be used
in an expression. All global parameters are defined in the Global Definitions node
of the model tree as a Parameters subnode. This means that they are global in
scope and can be used throughout the model tree.
A variable may also be defined in the Global Definitions node, as a Variables
subnode, and have global scope, but they are subject to other limitations. For
example, variables may not be used in Geometry, Mesh, or Study nodes (with the
one exception that a variable may be used in an expression that determines when
the simulation should stop).
A variable that is instead defined under the Definitions subnode of a Component
node has local scope and is intended for use in that particular Component (but,
again, not in the Geometry or Mesh nodes). They may be used, for example, to
specify material properties in the Materials subnode of a Component or to specify
boundary conditions or interactions. It is sometimes valuable to limit the scope of
the variable to only a certain part of the geometry, such as certain boundaries. For
that purpose, provisions are available in the settings for a variable to select whether
to apply the definition either to the entire geometry of the Component or only to
a Domain, Boundary, Edge, or Point.

| 31
The figure below shows the definition of two variables, q_pin and R, for which the
scope is limited to just two boundaries identified by numbers 15 and 19.

Such a group of numbers is called a Selection and can be named and then
referenced elsewhere in a model. This can be useful, for example, when defining
material properties or boundary conditions that will use the variable at certain
boundaries but not elsewhere. To give a name to the Selection, click the Create
Selection button ( ) to the right of the Selection list.
Although the variables defined in the Variables node under the Component >
Definitions subnode are intended to have local scope, they can still be accessed
outside of the Component node in the model tree by being sufficiently specific
about their identity. This is done by using a “dot notation”, where the variable
name is preceded by the name of the Component node in which it is defined and
the names are joined by a “dot”. In other words, if a variable named foo is defined
in a Component node named MyModel, then this variable can be accessed outside of
the Component node by using MyModel.foo. This can be useful, for example,
when you want to use the variable to make plots in the Results node. Variables
defined under the Declarations node in the Application Builder are available
globally in form objects and methods but cannot be used in the Model Builder.

32 |
Built-In Constants, Variables, and Functions

COMSOL Multiphysics comes with many built-in constants, variables, and

functions. They have reserved names that cannot be redefined by the user. If you
use a reserved name (a name already used by the software) for a user-defined
variable, parameter, or function, the text you enter will get a yellow squiggly
underline (indicating a warning) or a red squiggly underline (indicating an error)
and you will get a tooltip message if you hover over the text string.
Some important examples are:
• Mathematical constants such as pi (3.14...) or the imaginary unit i or j
• Physical constants such as g_const (acceleration of gravity), c_const (speed
of light), or R_const (universal gas constant)
• The time variable, t
• First- and second-order derivatives of the dependent variables (the solution)
whose names are derived from the spatial coordinate names and dependent
variable names (which are user-defined variables)
• Mathematical functions such as cos, sin, exp, log, log10, and sqrt

See “Appendix C — Language Elements and Reserved Names” on page 239 for
more information.

The Application Libraries

The Application Libraries are collections of MPH-files containing tutorial models

and runnable applications with accompanying documentation. Tutorial models
show how to use the Model Builder and have documentation that includes
theoretical background and step-by-step instructions. Runnable applications have
instructions on how to use the application. You can readily inspect and edit all
tutorial models and applications to make them your own. Each physics-based
add-on module comes with its own application library with examples specific to its
applications and physics area. You can use the step-by-step instructions and the
MPH-files as a template for your own modeling.

| 33
To open the Application Libraries window, select Application Libraries from the
Windows menu on the Home toolbar or from the File menu . Then, search by
application name or browse under a module folder name.

Click Open , Run Application , or Open PDF Document . Alternatively,

select Help > Documentation from the File menu to search by application name or
browse by module. Note that the Run Application option is only available for
MPH-files that are runnable applications.
The MPH-files in the Application Libraries can have three formats — Solved
MPH-files, Compact MPH-files, or Preview MPH-files:
• Solved MPH-files, including all meshes and solutions. In the Application
Libraries window, these appear with the icon. If the MPH-file size
exceeds 25 MB, a tooltip with the text Large file and the file size appears
when you position the cursor at the model’s node in the Application
Libraries tree.
• Compact MPH-files, with all settings for the model but without built
meshes and solution data to save space in the installation. Some MPH-files
have no solutions for other reasons such that the computation time is short
and the results are easily regenerated. You can open these to study the

34 |
 settings and to mesh and re-solve. It is also possible to download the full
versions — with meshes and solutions — of most of these when you update
your Application Libraries. These appear in the Application Libraries window
with the icon. If you position the cursor at a compact file in the
Application Libraries window, a No solutions stored message appears. A solved
version is available for download via the Application Library Update (except
in a few cases where the file is a template related to another, regular, model).
• Preview MPH-files, with only a model description and thumbnail image
available. These appear in the Application Libraries window with the icon.
The file is a preview of an application or a model file, including the model
description and information about used products and physics interfaces and
the computation time. Solved and compact versions are available for
download. Model documentation will be available if you have specified the
use of online help (see the Reference Manual for details on how to do this).
The Application Libraries are updated on a regular basis by COMSOL. To check
all available updates, click Update COMSOL Application Libraries at the top of the
Application Libraries window. You can also find this option from the File > Help
menu (Windows users) or from the Help menu (macOS and Linux users). This
connects you to the COMSOL website, where you can access new applications
and the latest updates.

If your computer has internet connection, then you can click the Application
Gallery button to access a wide range of additional examples from the COMSOL
website.

| 35
Workflow and Sequence of Operations

In the Model Builder window, every step of the modeling process, from defining
global variables to the final report of results, is displayed in the model tree.

From top to bottom, the model tree defines an orderly sequence of operations.
In the following branches of the model tree, the node order makes a difference
and you can change the sequence of operations by moving the subnodes up or
down the model tree:
• Geometry
• Materials
• Physics
• Mesh
• Study
• Plot Groups

36 |
Nodes may be reordered by these methods:
• Drag-and-drop
• Right-clicking the node and selecting Move Up or Move Down
• Pressing Ctrl + Up arrow or Ctrl + Down arrow
In other branches, the ordering of nodes is not significant with respect to the
sequence of operations, but some nodes can be reordered for readability. Child
nodes to Global Definitions is one such example. You can use the filter text field
above the model tree to display only those nodes that match the search string you
enter here. The Filter Options menu, available in the Model Builder toolbar, has
additional settings for modifying the search results.

You can view the sequence of operations presented in the model tree as program
code statements by saving the model as a Model File for MATLAB or as a Model File
for Java after having selected Compact History in the File menu. Note that the
model history keeps a complete record of the changes you make to a model as you
build it. As such, it includes all of your corrections, including changes to
parameters and boundary conditions and modifications of solver methods.
Compacting this history removes all of the overridden changes and leaves a clean
copy of the most recent form of the model steps. In the Application Builder, you
can use the Record Method option to view and edit program code statements in the
Method Editor.
As you work with the COMSOL Desktop interface and the Model Builder, you
will grow to appreciate the organized and streamlined approach. However, any
description of a user interface is inadequate until you try it for yourself. In the next
chapters, you are invited to work through two examples to familiarize yourself
with the software.

| 37
Example 1: Structural Analysis of a Wrench

This simple example requires none of the add-on products to COMSOL

Multiphysics®. For more fully featured structural mechanics models, see the
Structural Mechanics Module application library.
At some point in your life, it is likely that you have tightened a bolt using a wrench.
This exercise takes you through a structural mechanics model that analyzes this
basic task from the perspective of the structural integrity of the wrench subjected
to a worst-case loading.
The wrench is, of course, made from steel, a ductile material. If the applied torque
is too high, the tool will be permanently deformed due to the steel’s elastoplastic
behavior when pushed beyond its yield stress level. To analyze whether the wrench
handle is appropriately dimensioned, you will check if the mechanical stress level
is within the yield stress limit.
This tutorial gives a quick introduction to the Model Builder workflow. It starts
with opening the Model Wizard and adding a physics option for solid mechanics.
Then a geometry is imported and steel is selected as the material. You then explore
the other key steps in creating a model by defining a parameter and boundary
condition for the load; selecting geometric entities in the Graphics window;
defining the Mesh and Study; and finally, examining the results numerically and
through visualization.
If you prefer to practice with a more advanced model, read this section to
familiarize yourself with some of the key features, and then go to the tutorial
“Example 2: The Busbar — A Multiphysics Model” on page 75.

38 |
Model Wizard

1 To start the software, double-click the COMSOL

Multiphysics icon on the desktop, which will take you to
the New window with two options for creating a new
model: Model Wizard or Blank Model.

If you select Blank Model, you can right-click the root node
in the model tree to manually add a Component and a Study.
For this tutorial, click the Model Wizard button.
If the COMSOL Desktop user interface is already open,
you can start the Model Wizard by selecting New from the
File menu. Choose the Model Wizard.
The Model Wizard will guide you through the first steps of
setting up a model. The next window lets you select the
dimension of the modeling space.
2 In the Select Space Dimension window, select 3D.

| 39
3 In Select Physics, select
Structural Mechanics > Solid
Mechanics (solid) . Click Add.
Even without add-on modules,
the Solid Mechanics interface is
available in the Structural
Mechanics folder. In the picture
to the right, part of the
Structural Mechanics folder is
shown as it appears when all
add-on modules are available.

Click Study to continue.

4 Click Stationary under General

Studies. Click Done once you
have finished.
General Studies and other preset
studies have solver and equation
settings adapted to the selected
physics, which is, in this example,
Solid Mechanics. A Stationary
study is used in this case — there
are no time-varying loads or
material properties.
Any selection from the More Studies branch requires manual settings.

40 |
G e o me t r y

This tutorial uses a geometry that was previously created and stored in the
COMSOL native CAD format, .mphbin. To learn how to build your own
geometry, see “Appendix A — Building a Geometry” on page 214.
The location of the Application Library that contains the file used in this exercise
varies based on the software installation and operating system. In Windows, the
file path will be similar to:
C:\Program Files\COMSOL\COMSOL62\Multiphysics\applications.
Now, import the ready-made geometry file as follows.
1 In the Model Builder window, under Component 1, right-click Geometry 1 and
select Import .

As an alternative, you can use the ribbon and click Import from the Geometry
tab.

| 41
2 In the Settings window for Import, from the Source list, if not already selected,
select COMSOL Multiphysics file.

3 Click Browse and locate the file wrench.mphbin in the application library folder
of the COMSOL installation folder. Its default location in Windows is
C:\Program Files\COMSOL\COMSOL62\Multiphysics\applications\
COMSOL_Multiphysics\Structural_Mechanics\wrench.mphbin

Double-click to add or click Open.

4 Click Import. The geometry is now displayed in the Graphics window.
In the Import section, there
are two options for locating
a file for import: Browse and
Browse From. The Browse
option lets you import a file
from the file system using
the Open dialog box. The
Browse From option lets you
browse from either the file
system or a Model Manager
database.

42 |
5 Click the wrench geometry in the Graphics window and then experiment with
moving it around. As you point to or click the geometry, it changes color. Click
the Zoom In , Zoom Out , Go to Default 3D View , Zoom Extents , and
Transparency buttons on the Graphics window toolbar to see what happens to
the geometry:
- To rotate, click and drag anywhere in the Graphics window.
- To move, right-click and drag.
- To zoom in and out, click the mouse scroll wheel, continue holding it, and
drag.
- To get back to the original position, click the Go to Default 3D View button
on the toolbar.

Rotate: Click and drag

Pan: Right-click and drag

Also see “Appendix B — Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts” on page 231 for
additional information.
The imported model has two parts, or domains, corresponding to the bolt and the
wrench. In this exercise, the focus will be on analyzing the stress in the wrench.

| 43
Mate rials

The Materials node stores the material properties for all physics and all domains
in a Component node. Use the same generic steel material for both the bolt and
tool. Here is how to choose it in the Model Builder.
1 Open the Add Materials window.
You can open the Add Materials
window in either of these two
ways:
- Right-click Component 1 >
Materials in the Model Builder
window and select Add Material
from Library .
- From the ribbon, select the Home tab and then click Add Material.

2 In the Add Material window, click to

expand the Built-In folder. Scroll down
to find Structural steel, right-click, and
select Add to Component 1.
3 Examine the Material Contents section
in the Settings window for Material to
see the properties that are available.
Properties with check marks are used
by the physics in the simulation.

4 Close the Add Material window.

44 |
Note that some properties are available as functions of temperature T. If
you have no heat transfer physics defined in a model, then this temperature
is taken from the Default Model Inputs under Global Definitions.
See the busbar tutorial sections “Materials” on page 89 and “Customizing
Materials” on page 141 to learn more about working with materials.

| 45
Global Definitions

You will now define a global parameter specifying the load applied to the wrench.

Parameters
1 In the Model Builder window, under Global Definitions , choose Parameters
1 .

2 Go to the Settings window for Parameters 1. In the Parameters table, enter these
settings:
- In the Name column or field, enter F.
- In the Expression column or field, enter 150[N]. The square-bracket notation
is used to associate a physical unit to a numerical value; in this case, the unit
of force in Newtons. The Value column is automatically updated based on the
expression entered once you leave the field or press Return.
- In the Description column or field,
enter Applied force.

If you have a Parameters table with more than one entry, you can sort the
table with respect to a particular column by clicking on the corresponding
header.
The sections “Global Definitions” on page 81 and “Parameters, Functions,
Variables, and Couplings” on page 136 show you more about working with
parameters.

46 |
So far, you have added the physics and
study, imported a geometry, added the
material, and defined one parameter. The
Model Builder node sequence should now
match the figure to the right. The default
feature nodes under Solid Mechanics are
indicated by a D in the upper-left corner of
the node icon .
The default nodes for Solid Mechanics are:
Linear Elastic Material, Free, and Initial
Values.
The node Linear Elastic Material is the
default material model for the Solid
Mechanics interface. The node Free is a
boundary condition that allows all
boundaries to move freely without a
constraint or load. The node Initial Values
is used for specifying initial displacement
and velocity values for a nonlinear or
transient analysis (not applicable in this case).
The default physics nodes cannot be removed. Instead, you specify physics settings
that deviate from that of the default nodes by adding additional nodes. These
additional nodes can override or contribute to the settings of the default nodes as
well as other nodes. For more information, see “Override and Contribution:
Exclusive and Contributing Nodes” on page 153.
At any time, you can save your model and then open it later in exactly the state in
which it was saved.
3 From the File menu, select Save As. Browse to a folder where you have write
permissions and save the file as wrench.mph.

| 47
Physics and Boundary Conditions

With the geometry and materials defined, you are now ready to set the boundary
conditions.
1 In the Model Builder window,
right-click Solid Mechanics
(solid) and select Fixed
Constraint .
This boundary condition
constrains the displacement of
each point on a boundary
surface to be zero in all
directions.
You can also use the ribbon
and, from the Physics tab,
select Boundaries > Fixed
Constraint.

2 In the Graphics window, rotate the

geometry by clicking anywhere in the
window and then dragging the wrench
into the position shown. Click on the
exposed front surface of the partially
modeled bolt. The boundary turns blue,
indicating that it has been selected. The
Boundary number in the Selection list
should be 35.

3 Click the Go to Default View button on the Graphics toolbar to restore the
geometry to the default view.

48 |
4 In the Model Builder window, right-click Solid Mechanics (solid) and select
Boundary Load. A Boundary Load node is added to the Model Builder sequence.

The “warning” attribute displayed on the Boundary Load node indicates that its
boundary selection is empty. The next step will be to select a boundary.
5 In the Graphics window, click the Zoom
Box button on the toolbar and drag
the mouse to select the square region
shown in the figure to the right.
Release the mouse button to zoom in
on the selected region.

6 Select the top socket face (boundary

111) by clicking the boundary to
highlight it in blue and add it to the
Selection list.

7 In the Settings window for Boundary

Load, under Force, select Total force as
the Load type and enter -F in the text
field for the z component. The negative
sign indicates the negative z direction
(downward). With these settings, the
load of 150 N will be distributed
uniformly across the selected surface.

| 49
Note that to simplify the modeling process, the mechanical contact between the
bolt and the wrench is approximated with a material interface boundary condition.
Such an internal boundary condition is automatically defined and guarantees
continuity in normal stress and displacement across a material interface. A more
detailed analysis including mechanical contact can be done with the Structural
Mechanics Module.

A DDING A P ARAMETER D IRECTLY FROM A T EXT F IELD

As an alternative to the method shown above, you can add or edit a parameter
directly from a text field. For example, in the case of the wrench model, first type
the value of the Total force in the text field for the z component. Then, right-click
the text field and select Create Parameter from the drop-down menu to open a
Create Parameter dialog box, as shown in the second figure below.

In this dialog box, you can enter a parameter Name and Description.

50 |
The parameter is now added to the list of Parameters, as shown below.

To edit a parameter, select the parameter in an edit field, right-click, and choose
Edit Parameter.

Note that when you hover over edit fields and table cells, a tooltip shows the value
of the parameter or expression. This only works when the value is a constant.

S ELECTING B OUNDARIES AND OTHER G EOMETRIC E NTITIES

When a boundary is unselected, its color is typically gray. The exception is when
you use the material Appearance setting available in Materials; see page 93. To
select a boundary, first hover over it. This highlights the boundary in red,
assuming the boundary was previously unselected. Now, click to select the

| 51
boundary by using the left mouse button. The boundary now turns blue. Its
boundary number will appear in the Selection list in the Settings window of the
corresponding boundary condition. Once a boundary is selected and you hover
over it again, the boundary turns green. If you click a boundary highlighted in
green, the boundary is deselected and now turns gray again. The same technique
for selecting and deselecting is applicable to geometry objects, domains,
boundaries, edges, and points.
The figure below shows the different selection states for a boundary.

Highlighted for selection Selected Highlighted for deselection

To select internal surfaces that are hidden behind the one closest to you, use one
of the following methods to cycle through the boundaries at the mouse pointer:
roll the mouse scroll wheel, use the keyboard + and - buttons, use the keyboard
arrow-up and arrow-down buttons, or use two-finger drag on a touchpad.
When hovering over a boundary, information about the boundary number and
surface normal direction is displayed in the upper-left corner of the Graphics
window, as shown in the figure below.

Similarly, when selecting domains, edges, and vertices the corresponding

geometric entity number is displayed.

52 |
For each boundary surface, the normal vector has a “positive” and “negative”
direction, referred to as the up and down direction, respectively. When hovering
over a surface, the information display shows which normal direction is currently
pointing toward you. This information can be useful, for example, when defining
more advanced boundary conditions, especially on material interfaces.

S ELECTING U SING THE G RAPHICS W INDOW C ONTEXT M ENUS

As an alternative selection method, you can right-click in the Graphics window and
choose one of the options for domain, boundary, edge, or point selection.
For example, to assign a Boundary Load boundary condition, first right-click and
select New Boundary Selection, as shown in the figure below.

| 53
Click to select the boundaries to which you would like to apply the boundary
condition. (In this case, the top socket face; boundary 111.) Then, right-click
again and select Boundary Load, as shown in the figure below.

You can also use this method to add additional boundaries to the selections of an
already created boundary condition. In the example above, you could, for
example, while having the Fixed Constraint node selected, select the menu option
Add to Boundary Selection for Fixed Constraint 1 (although it wouldn’t be applicable
in this example).

S ELECTING U SING C LIP P LANES

For selecting geometric entities inside complicated CAD models, you can use clip
planes, clip boxes, clip spheres, or clip cylinders. You select these from the graphics
toolbar by clicking the Clipping toolbar button.

54 |
By selecting a Clip Plane, for example, you can quickly hide all parts of a model that
is on one side of the plane. The figure below shows a clip plane used to select one
of the interior boundaries of the wrench model.

| 55
Me sh

The mesh settings determine the resolution of the finite element mesh used to
discretize the model. The finite element method divides the model into small
elements of geometrically simple shapes, in this case tetrahedra. In each
tetrahedron, a set of polynomial functions is used to approximate the structural
displacement field — how much the object deforms in each of the three
coordinate directions. The strains are computed by differentiating the
displacement field. Then, the stresses are computed from the strains using the
material properties.
In this example, because the geometry contains small edges and faces, you will
define a slightly finer mesh than the default setting suggests. This will better
resolve the variations of the stress field and give a more accurate result. Refining
the mesh size to improve computational accuracy always involves some sacrifice in
speed and typically requires increased memory usage.
1 In the Model Builder, under Component 1, click Mesh 1 . In the Settings window
for Mesh, under Mesh Settings, select Finer from the Element size list.

2 Click the Build All button in the Settings window or on the Mesh toolbar.
With the resulting mesh, the model will require about 5GB to solve. If you have
a computer with less than 5GB of RAM you can select Fine from the Element
size list (instead of Finer.)

56 |
3 After a few seconds, the mesh is displayed in the Graphics window. Rotate the
wrench to take a look at the element size distribution (this may vary a bit
depending on the version you are running).

| 57
Study

In the beginning of setting up the model, you selected a Stationary study, which
implies that a stationary solver will be used. For this to be applicable, the
assumption is that the load, deformation, and stress do not vary in time. To start
the solver:
1 Right-click Study 1 and select
Compute (or press F8).
After a few seconds of
computation time, the default plot
is displayed in the Graphics
window. During computation, a
Progress window shows progress information from the solvers. After the
computation you can find other useful information about the computation in the
Messages and Log windows; Click the Messages and Log tabs under the Graphics
window to see the kind of information available to you. The Messages window can
also be opened from the Windows drop-down list in the Home tab of the ribbon.

58 |
Results

The von Mises stress is displayed in the Graphics window in a default Volume plot
with the displacement visualized using a Deformation subnode. Change the default
unit (N/m2) to the more suitable MPa as shown in the following steps.
1 In the Model Builder, expand the Results > Stress
(solid) node, then click Volume 1 .

2 In the Settings window under

Expression, from the Unit list, select
MPa (or type MPa in the field).

| 59
3 Click the Plot button on the toolbar of the Settings window for the Volume
plot and then click the Go to Default 3D View button on the Graphics window
toolbar.
The von Mises stress distribution is shown in the bolt and wrench under an
applied vertical load.

You can add additional predefined plots by selecting from the list defined by Add
Predefined Plot under Results or by clicking the corresponding button from the
ribbon Home tab.

60 |
4 You can, for example, visualize the applied load distribution. Right-click Results
and select Add Predefined Plot. In the Add Predefined Plot window, select Solid
Mechanics > Applied Loads > Boundary Loads and click Add Plot.

The resulting plot shows the boundary load using arrows.

For our purposes we are not interested in the stress in the bolt. We can selectively
visualize the stress in just the wrench by adding a Selection node.

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1 Right-click the Stress > Volume node and select Selection .

2 In the Graphics window, click the wrench, domain 1.

62 |
3 Click Plot to see the visualization.

For a typical steel used for tools like a wrench, the yield stress is about 600 MPa,
which means that we are getting somewhat close to plastic deformation for our
150 N load (which corresponds to about 34 pounds force). You may also be
interested in a safety margin of, say, a factor of three. To quickly assess which parts
of the wrench are at risk of plastic deformation, you can plot an inequality
expression such as solid.misesGp>200[MPa]. (The suffix Gp indicates that the stress
variables are obtained from the so called finite element Gauss points.)
1 Right-click the Results node and add a 3D Plot Group .

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2 Right-click the 3D Plot Group 3 node and select Volume .

3 In the Settings window for Volume, click

the Replace Expression button and
select Model > Component 1 > Solid
Mechanics > Stress > solid.mises-von
Mises stress - N/m2 by double-clicking.
When you know the variable name
beforehand, you can also directly enter
solid.misesGp in the Expression field.
Now edit this expression to:
solid.misesGp>200[MPa].
This is a Boolean expression that evaluates to either 1 for true or 0 for false. In
areas where the expression evaluates to 1, the safety margin is exceeded.
4 Change the Color table to RainbowLight and click the Plot button .
5 In the Model Builder window, click 3D Plot Group 3. Press F2 and, in the Rename
3D Plot Group dialog box, enter Safety Margin. Click OK. Alternatively, edit the
label at the top of the Settings window.
Note that it is sometimes quicker to right-click a Plot Group, select
Duplicate from the menu, and then make the necessary changes to the
plot settings.
The resulting plot shows that the stress in the bolt is high, but the focus
of this exercise is on the wrench. If you wish to comfortably certify the wrench

64 |
 for a 150 N load with a factor-of-three safety margin, you would need to change
the handle design somewhat, such as by making it wider.

You may have noticed that the manufacturer, for various reasons, has chosen an
asymmetric design for the wrench. Because of that, the stress field may be different
if the wrench is flipped around. Try now, on your own, to apply the same force in
the other direction and visualize the maximum von Mises stress to see if there is
any difference.

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Convergence Analysis

The results from a simulation software such as COMSOL Multiphysics can

shorten design times dramatically by, for example, reducing the number of
experiments or product tests. However, simulation software is not a substitute for
real-world testing. This is especially important if there are risks for physical or
environmental damage. One way to reduce (but not eliminate) the risk of drawing
the wrong conclusions from simulation results is to perform a convergence
analysis.
To check the accuracy of the computed maximum von Mises stress in the wrench,
you can now continue with a mesh convergence analysis. Do that by using a finer
mesh and therefore a higher number of degrees of freedom (DOFs).
This section illustrates some more in-depth functionality and the steps
below could be skipped at a first reading. Note that since the mechanical
contact between the bolt and the wrench is approximated with a material
interface boundary condition, there will be stress singularities in this area.
Due to this, we will neglect the stresses there and focus on the handle. A
more detailed analysis including mechanical contact can be done with the
Structural Mechanics Module.

E VALUATING THE M AXIMUM VON M ISES S TRESS

1 To study the maximum von Mises stress in the wrench, in the Results section of
the model tree, right-click the Derived Values node and select Maximum >
Volume Maximum .
2 In the Settings window for Volume Maximum, under Selection, choose Manual and
select the wrench, domain 1, by clicking on the wrench in the Graphics window.
We will only consider values in the wrench domain and neglect those in the bolt.
In addition, since we are only interested in the stress values in the handle, which
we can achieve by multiplying the stress variable with the expression
(x>-0.045).
3 In the first row of the Expressions table, in the Expression column, type
solid.mises*(x>-0.045).

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4 In the Expressions table, type MPa as the Unit.

In addition, to get optimal accuracy, in the same settings window, in the

Configuration section, change the Point type to Gauss points.

5 In the Settings window for Volume

Maximum, click Evaluate to evaluate the
maximum stress. The result will be
displayed in a Table window and will be
approximately 371 MPa. The value may
vary slightly depending on the software
version and hardware platform.

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6 To see where the maximum value is attained, you can, for example, use a
Max/Min Volume plot. Right-click the Results node and add a 3D Plot Group
. Next, right-click the 3D Plot Group 4 node and select More Volume Plots
> Max/Min Volume . Change the name of 3D Plot Group 4 to Max/Min Stress.
7 To plot values in the wrench and not in the bolt, right-click the Max/Min Volume
node, select Selection, and then select the wrench, domain number 1.
8 In the Settings window for Max/Min Volume, in the Expression text field, type
solid.misesGp*(x>-0.045). Alternatively, you can use a Filter node: Right-click
the Max/Min Volume plot, select Filter, and change the Logical expression for
inclusion to x>-0.045.
9 In the Settings window under Expression, from the Unit list, select MPa (or enter
MPa in the field).
10Click the Plot button . This type of plot simultaneously shows the location of
the maximum and minimum values and also their coordinate location in the
table below (the exact values may differ depending on the version you are
running).

68 |
 An alternative way of plotting the maximum and minimum stress is to
right-click the Stress > Volume plot and select Marker.

Note that the maximum and minimum values using this approach can
differ somewhat since the evaluation method is slightly different.

P ARAMETERIZING THE M ESH

We will now define a parametric sweep for successively refining the mesh size while
solving and then finally plot the maximum von Mises stress versus mesh size. First,
we define the parameters that will be used for controlling the mesh density.
1 In the Model Builder window, click Parameters 1 under Global Definitions .
2 Go to the Settings window for Parameters. In the Parameters table (or under the
table in the fields), enter these settings:
- In the Name column or field, enter hd. This parameter will be used in the
parametric sweep to control the element size.
- In the Expression column or field, enter 2.
- In the Description column or field, enter Element size divider.

3 Now, enter another parameter

with Name h0, Expression 0.01,
and Description Starting
element size. This parameter
will be used to define the
element size at the start of the
parametric sweep.
4 In the Model Builder window,
under Component 1, click
Mesh 1 . In the Settings
window for Mesh, select User-controlled mesh from the Sequence type list.
5 Under Mesh 1, click the Size node .

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6 In the Settings window for Size, under
Element Size, click the Custom button.
Under Element Size Parameters, enter:
- h0/hd in the Maximum element size field.
- h0/(4*hd) in the Minimum element size
field.
- 1.3 in the Maximum element growth rate
field.
- 0.1 in the Curvature factor field.
- 0.2 in the Resolution of narrow regions field.
See page 103 for more information on the
element size parameters.

P ARAMETRIC S WEEP AND S OLVER S ETTINGS

As a next step, add a parametric sweep for the parameter hd.
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Study 1
and select Parametric Sweep . A Parametric
Sweep node is added to the Model Builder
sequence.
2 In the Settings window for Parametric Sweep, under the table in the Study
Settings section, click the Add button . From the Parameter name list in the
table, select hd.
3 Enter a range of Parameter values to
sweep for. Click the Range button
and enter the values in the Range
dialog box. In the Start field, enter 2.
In the Step field, enter 1, and in the
Stop field, enter 6. Click Replace. The
Parameter value list will now display
range(2,1,6).
The settings above make sure that as
the sweep progresses, the value of the
parameter hd increases and the
maximum and minimum element sizes decrease.
See page 169 for more information on defining parametric sweeps.
For the highest value of hd, the number of DOFs will exceed one million.
Therefore, we will switch to a more memory-efficient iterative solver.

70 |
4 Under Study 1 > Solver
Configurations > Solution 1,
expand the Stationary Solver 1
node , and right-click Suggested
Iterative Solver and select
Enable. Selecting an iterative
solver option typically reduces
memory usage but may require
physics-specific tailoring of the
solver settings for efficient
computations.
5 Under General in the Settings
window for Suggested Iterative Solver, change the Preconditioning to Right. (This
is a low-level solver option, which in this case will suppress a warning message
that would otherwise appear. However, this setting does not affect the resulting
solution. Preconditioning is a mathematical transformation used to prepare the
finite element equation system for using the iterative solver.)
6 Click the Study 1 node and select Compute , either in the Settings window or
by right-clicking the node. You can also click Compute on the ribbon Home or
Study tab. The computation time will be a few minutes (depending on the
computer hardware) and memory usage will be about 4GB.

R ESULTS A NALYSIS
Note that after running the parametric sweep, a new default plot node is created
corresponding to the new Dataset Study 1/Parametric Solutions 1.

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As a final step, analyze the results from the parametric sweep by displaying the
maximum von Mises stress in a table.
1 In the Model Builder window, under Results > Derived Values, select the Volume
Maximum 1 node .
The solutions from the parametric sweep are stored in the Dataset named Study
1/Parametric Solutions 1. Now, change the Volume Maximum settings
accordingly:
2 In the Settings window for Volume Maximum, change the Dataset to Study
1/Parametric Solutions 1.
3 Click the arrow next to the Evaluate button at the top of the Settings window
for Volume Maximum and select to evaluate in a New Table. This evaluation may
take 10 seconds or so, depending on the computer.
4 To plot the results in the Table, click the Table Graph button at the top of the
Table window (the first few values will vary due to slight mesh variations
between versions for coarser meshes before a more mesh-converged value has
been reached).

It is more interesting to plot the maximum value vs. the number of DOFs. This
is possible by using the built-in variable numberofdofs.
5 Right-click the Derived Values node and select Global Evaluation .
6 In the Settings window for Global Evaluation, change the Dataset to Study
1/Parametric Solutions 1.
7 In the Expressions field, enter numberofdofs.
You can type the first few characters of the variable name and then use
the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Space to get a variable suggestion from the
list of available variables.

72 |
8 In the Settings window for Global Evaluation, click the arrow next to the Evaluate
button and select the option to evaluate in Table 2, or Table 1, depending on
which previous steps you chose to follow. This displays the DOF values for each
parameter next to the previously evaluated data.
This mesh-convergence analysis shows that the computed value of the maximum
von Mises stress in the wrench handle will decrease from the high original value,
for a mesh with about 115,000 DOFs, to about 369 MPa for a mesh with about
1,000,000 DOFs. If we further refine the mesh we will find that the results will
stay approximately around the value 369 MPa. Note that in this parametric sweep
the coarsest mesh is coarser than the preset Finer mesh used in the wrench before
the convergence study.
The figure below shows the associated Table Graph and Table Graph Settings
window.

Note that depending on the version of COMSOL Multiphysics that you are
running, the above values may vary slightly due to variations in the number of
elements generated by the meshing algorithm.
As an alternative to Derived Values, you can use Evaluation Groups. An Evaluation
Group shares some of the properties of Plot Groups as well as Derived Values. An
Evaluation Group comes with an integrated table whereas Derived Values outputs to
a table of your choice. In addition, Evaluation Groups allows you to automatically

| 73
reevaluate after solving. To enable this, select the corresponding check box in the
Settings window of the Results node as shown in the figure below.

In this Settings window you can also request to regenerate all plots after solving.
You add an Evaluation Group in the same way as a Plot Group: by right-clicking the
Results node. The figure below shows an Evaluation Group that performs the same
task as the Derived Values described earlier.

As done previously for Derived Values, to get optimal accuracy, in the Volume
Maximum settings window, in the Configuration section, change the Point type to
Gauss points.
The figure below shows the corresponding Evaluation Group table.

This concludes the wrench tutorial.

74 |
Example 2: The Busbar — A Multiphysics Model

Electrical Heating in a Busbar

This tutorial demonstrates the concept of multiphysics modeling in COMSOL
Multiphysics using the Model Builder. You will learn how to use one of the many
preconfigured multiphysics combinations as well as subsequently add the effects
of physics phenomena not initially included in the analysis. At the end, you will
have built a truly multiphysics model.
The model that you are about to create analyzes a busbar designed to conduct a
high amount of direct current in an industrial setting (see picture below). The
current conducted in the busbar, from bolt 1 to bolts 2a and 2b, produces heat
due to the resistive losses, a phenomenon referred to as Joule heating. The busbar
is made of copper, while the bolts are made of a titanium alloy. Busbar bolts are
usually made of steel, but in this example, we will assume a highly corrosive
environment. Therefore, a titanium alloy was chosen.
Under normal operational conditions, the currents are predominantly conducted
through the copper. This example, however, illustrates the effects of an unwanted
electrical loading of the busbar through the bolts. The fact that there are different
materials is important because titanium has a lower electrical conductivity than
copper and will be subjected to a higher current density.
Titanium Bolt 2a

Titanium Bolt 2b Titanium Bolt 1

The goal of your simulation is to precisely calculate how much the busbar heats
up. Once you have captured the basic multiphysics phenomena, you will have the
chance to investigate thermal expansion that generates structural stresses and
strains in the busbar and the effects of cooling by an air stream.

| 75
The Joule heating effect is described by conservation laws for electric current and
energy. Once solved for, the two conservation laws give the temperature and
electric field, respectively. All surfaces, except the bolt contact surfaces, are cooled
by natural convection in the air surrounding the busbar. You can assume that the
exposed parts of the bolt do not contribute to the cooling or heating of the device.
The electric potential at the upper-right vertical bolt surface is 20 mV and the
potential at the two horizontal surfaces of the lower bolts is 0 V. This corresponds
to a relatively high and potentially unsafe loading of this type of busbar. More
advanced boundary conditions for electromagnetics analysis are available with the
AC/DC Module, such as the capability to give the total current on a boundary. A
more advanced model that includes multiple busbars in an assembly, as shown in
the figure below, can be found in some of the add-on products, including the
AC/DC Module and a few of the LiveLink™ products for CAD.

Busbar Model Overview

More in-depth and advanced topics included in this tutorial are used to show you
some of the many options available in COMSOL Multiphysics. The following
topics are covered:
• “Parameters, Functions, Variables, and Couplings” on page 136, where you
learn how to define functions and nonlocal couplings.
• “Material Properties and Material Libraries” on page 141 shows you how to
customize a material and add it to your own material library.

76 |
• “Adding Meshes” on page 143 gives you the opportunity to add and define
two different meshes and compare them in the Graphics window.
• “Adding Physics” on page 146 explores the multiphysics capabilities by
adding solid mechanics and laminar flow to the busbar model.
• “Parametric Sweeps” on page 169 shows you how to vary the width of the
busbar using a parameter and then solve for a range of parameter values. The
result is a plot of the average temperature as a function of the width.
• “Parallel Computing” on page 181 gives you an overview of how to solve
on clusters.
• “COMSOL Multiphysics Client–Server” on page 185 gives you an
introduction to using the COMSOL Multiphysics client–server mode of
operation.

| 77
Model Wizard

1 To open the software, double-click the COMSOL

Multiphysics icon on the desktop.

When the software opens, click the Model Wizard button.

You can also start the Model Wizard at any time by selecting
New from the File menu. Then, choose Model Wizard.

2 In the Select Space Dimension window, click 3D.

3 In the Select Physics window, expand Heat

Transfer > Electromagnetic Heating. Then,
right-click Joule Heating and choose Add
Physics. Click the Study button.
You can also double-click the selected physics
interface or click the Add button to add
physics.
(Another way to add physics is to open the
Add Physics window by right-clicking the
Component node in the Model Builder window
and selecting Add Physics .)
Note that you may have fewer items in your
physics list depending on the add-on
modules installed. The figure on the right is
shown for the case where all add-on modules
are installed.

78 |
4 In the Select Study window, click to
select the Stationary study type.
Click the Done button.
Choosing a stationary study means
that we are solving for the
steady-state temperature of the
busbar when it has reached thermal
equilibrium with its surroundings.

| 79
 A preconfigured Study has solver and equation settings adapted to the selected
combination of physics interfaces; in this example, Joule Heating.
Note that you may have fewer study types in your study list depending on the
installed add-on modules.
A physics interface is a user interface for a specific physics area that
defines the equations together with settings for mesh generation,
solvers, visualization, and results. A multiphysics interface is a
combination of physics interfaces together with multiphysics couplings.
The Joule Heating multiphysics interface consists of two physics
interfaces, Electric Currents and Heat Transfer in Solids, together with the
multiphysics coupling Electromagnetic Heating that appear in the
Multiphysics branch. This method of mixing physics is very flexible and
makes it possible to use all the capabilities of the participating
single-physics interfaces for multiphysics purposes.

80 |
Global Definitions

To save time, it is recommended that you 2 x rad_1

load the geometry from a file. In that case,
you can skip to “Geometry” on page 85.
On the other hand, if you want to draw the
geometry yourself, the Global Definitions
node is where you define the parameters.
First, complete steps 1 through 3 below to
define the parameter list for the model.
Then, follow step 4 and skip to the section
“Appendix A — Building a Geometry” on
page 214.
The Global Definitions node in the Model
Builder window stores Parameters, Variables,
and Functions with a global scope. The wbb
L
model tree can hold several model
components simultaneously, and the
tbb
definitions with a global scope are made
available for all components. In this
particular example, there is only one Component node in which the parameters are
used. If you wish to limit the scope to this single component, you could define,
for example, Variables and Functions in the Definitions subnode, available directly
under the corresponding Component node. However, no Parameters can be
defined here because Parameters that are defined under Global Definitions are
always global.
Since you will run a parametric study of the geometry later in this example, define
the geometry using parameters from the start. In this step, enter parameters for
the length of the lower part of the busbar, L; the radius of the titanium bolts,
rad_1; the thickness of the busbar, tbb; and the width of the device, wbb.
You will also add the parameters that control the mesh, mh; a heat transfer
coefficient for cooling by natural convection, htc; and a value for the voltage
across the busbar, Vtot.
1 Under Global Definitions , choose Parameters . In the Parameters table, click
the first row under Name and enter L.
2 Click the first row under Expression and enter the value of L, 9[cm]. You can
enter the unit inside the square brackets.
3 Continue adding the other parameters: rad_1, tbb, wbb, mh, htc, and Vtot
according to the Parameters list below. It is a good idea to enter descriptions for

| 81
 variables in case you want to share the model with others and for your own
future reference.

Click the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar and name the model
busbar.mph or use the corresponding File menu option. Then, go to “Appendix A
— Building a Geometry” on page 214.

82 |
The Auto Co mpletio n an d Find Tools

The model tree contains a large number of parameters and variables. To make it
easier to find them, you can use the auto completion and find tools as described
below.

A UTO C OMPLETION
You can use Ctrl+Space for auto completion of parameter and variable names. For
example, in the Parameters table, if you click an empty Expression field and then
press Ctrl+Space, you will get a list of parameters and variables, as shown in the
figure below.

This functionality is also available for other edit fields in the Model Builder window.

| 83
F IND
To find parameters, variables, as well as other strings in the model tree, you can
click the Find button in the Quick Access Toolbar or use the keyboard shortcut
Ctrl+F. This opens the Find and Replace window.

The results of the search are displayed below the Contains and Replace with fields.
The results in this example are coming from the completed busbar model by
searching for the string current.
You can double-click any of the rows in this window to open the corresponding
Settings window.

84 |
G e o me t r y

This section describes how the geometry can be opened from the Application
Libraries. The physics, study, parameters, and geometry are included with the
model file you are about to open.
1 Select Application Libraries from the
Windows drop-down menu in the Home tab.
You can also access the Application Libraries
from the File menu.

2 In the Application Libraries tree

under COMSOL Multiphysics >
Multiphysics, select busbar_geom.
To open the file, you can:
- Double-click the name
- Right-click and select an option
from the menu
- Click one of the buttons under
the tree
You can select No if prompted to
save Untitled.mph.
The geometry in this file is
parameterized. In the next few
steps, we will experiment with
different values for the width
parameter, wbb.

| 85
3 Under Global Definitions , click the
Parameters node .
In the Settings window for Parameters,
click in the Expression column for the
wbb parameter and enter 10[cm] to
change the value of the busbar width.
4 In the Model Builder window, under
Component 1 > Geometry 1, click the
Form Union node and then the Build
All button in the Settings window to rerun the geometry sequence. You can
also use the ribbon and click Build All from the Geometry group in the Home tab.

86 |
5 In the Graphics toolbar, click the Zoom Extents button to see the wider busbar
in the Graphics window.

wbb = 5cm wbb = 10cm

6 Experiment with the geometry in the Graphics window:
- To rotate the busbar, click and drag the pointer anywhere in the Graphics
window.
- To move it, right-click and drag.
- To zoom in and out, click the scroll wheel, continue holding it, and drag.

- To get back to the original position, click the Go to Default 3D View button
on the toolbar.

7 Return to the Parameters table and

change the value of wbb back to 5[cm].
8 In the Model Builder window, click the
Form Union node and then click the
Build All button to rerun the geometry
sequence.
9 On the Graphics toolbar, click the Zoom
Extents button .

| 87
10If you built the geometry yourself, you are already using the file busbar.mph, but
if you opened the file from the Application Libraries window, select Save As from
the File menu and rename the model busbar.mph.

After creating or importing the geometry, it is time to define the materials.

88 |
Mate rials

The Materials node stores the material properties for all physics and geometrical
domains in a Component node. The busbar is made of copper and the bolts are
made of a titanium alloy. Both of these materials are available from the Built-In
material database.
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Component 1 > Materials and select
Add Material from Library . By default, the window will open on the
right-hand side of the desktop. You can move the window by clicking on the
window title and then dragging it to a new location. While dragging the
window, you will be presented with several options for docking.

The Materials node will show a red × in the lower-left corner if you try to
solve without first defining a material, which we will go over in the next
few steps.
2 In the Add Material window,
expand the Built-In materials
folder and locate Copper.
Right-click Copper and select
Add to Component 1.
Alternatively, you can
double-click.
A Copper node is added to the
Model Builder window.
3 In the Add Material window,
scroll to Titanium beta-21S in the
Built-In material folder list.
Right-click and select Add to
Component 1.

| 89
4 In the Model Builder window, collapse the Geometry 1 node to get an overview
of the model.

At this stage, the Materials node may display one or more red × symbols
depending on the active selection. These will disappear in the next few steps.
5 Under the Materials node, click Copper .

6 In the Settings window for Material, examine the Material Contents

section.

The Material Contents section has useful information about the material
property usage of a model. Properties that are both required by the

90 |
physics and available from the material are marked with a check mark .
Properties required by the physics but missing in the material are marked with
a warning sign . A property that is available but not used in the model is
unmarked.
The Coefficient of thermal expansion, Young’s modulus, and Poisson’s ratio
properties in the table above are not used but will be needed later when
heat-induced stresses and strains are added to the model.
Because the copper material is added first, by default, all parts have copper
material assigned. In the next step, you will assign titanium properties to the
bolts, which override the copper material assignment for those parts.
7In the Model Builder window, click
Titanium beta-21S .

| 91
8 Select All Domains from the Selection list and then click domain 1 in the list. Now
remove domain 1 from the selection list.

To remove a domain from the selection list (or any geometric entity, such as
boundaries, edges, or points), you can use either of these two methods:
- Click domain 1 in the selection list found in the Settings window for Material.
Then, click the Remove from Selection button or press Delete on your
keyboard.
- Alternatively, in the Graphics window, click domain 1 to remove it from the
selection list.

The domains 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are highlighted in blue.

92 |
You can enable and disable material color and texture from the Color
toolbar button in the Graphics window. To render the copper components
using a realistic color, select Show Material Color and Texture. This will also
enable material-true rendering of other materials. Here, you can also
enable coloring of selections by selecting Show Selection Colors.

The figures below show the Settings and Graphics windows corresponding
to a selection where a color (pink) other than the default has been used.
There is also a second selection (not shown) with another color (green).

Note that to see the color while creating a selection, you need to click the
Suppress Selection Highlight button in the Graphics toolbar. For more
information on Selections, see page 149.
To further increase the level of realism in material rendering you can
enable Environment Reflections from the Scene Light menu button in the
Graphics toolbar. From this menu you can choose an Indoor Environment
or Outdoor Environment. You can also enable effects such as Direct Shadows
and Floor Shadows.

| 93
 The corresponding image, known as a skybox image, will be reflected in
the material, thereby increasing the level of realism. This is particularly
visible when the material is a metal, as shown in the figure below.

By selecting the Show Skybox option you can display the corresponding
skybox image used for the environment reflection.
For best results you will need a graphics card that supports OpenGL. See
also “Graphics and Plot Windows” on page 14. Not all of these
visualization options will be used in the remainder of this example.

94 |
9 In the Settings window
for Material, be sure to
inspect the Material
Contents section for the
titanium material. All of
the properties used by
the physics should have a
check mark .

10Close the Add Material

window either by clicking the
icon in the upper-right corner or
by clicking the Add Material
toggle button in the Materials
group of the ribbon Home tab.

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Physics and Boundary Conditions

Next, you will inspect the physics domain settings and set the boundary conditions
for the heat transfer problem and the conduction of the electric current.
In the Model Builder window, examine the default physics nodes of the
multiphysics interface for Joule Heating. First, collapse the Materials node. Then,
click the arrows next to the Electric Currents , Heat Transfer in Solids , and
Multiphysics nodes to expand them.

The D in the upper-left corner of a node’s icon ( ) means it is a default node.

The equations that are being solved are
displayed in the Equation section of the
Settings windows of the respective
physics nodes.
The default equation form, for example, whether it should be a stationary or
transient equation, is inherited from the study added in the Model Wizard. In this
case, the study is stationary and the equation form is the stationary version of the
equation system for Joule heating. For the Joule Heating multiphysics interface,
the equation system has the temperature and electric potential as dependent
variables.

96 |
 To always display the equations in the Settings windows, click the Show
More Options button ( ) on the Model Builder toolbar and select Equation
Sections so that a check mark appears next to it.
The Heat Transfer in Solids and
Electric Currents nodes have the settings
for heat conduction and current
conduction, respectively.
Under the Electric Currents node, the
Current Conservation node represents the
conservation of electric current at the
domain level and the Electric Insulation
node contains the default boundary
condition for Electric Currents.
Under the Heat Transfer in Solids node,
the domain level Solid node represents the
conservation of heat and the Thermal
Insulation node contains the default
boundary condition for Heat Transfer in
Solids. The heat source for the Joule
heating effect is set in the Electromagnetic Heating node under the Multiphysics
node. The Initial Values node, found in both the Electric Currents and Heat Transfer
in Solids interfaces, contains initial guesses for the nonlinear solver for stationary
problems and initial conditions for time-dependent problems.
Now, define the boundary conditions.
1 Right-click the Heat Transfer in Solids node . In the second section of the
context menu — the boundary section — select Heat Flux.

Domain section

Section divider

Boundary section

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2 In the Settings window for Heat Flux,
select All boundaries from the Selection
list.
Assume that the circular bolt
boundaries are neither heated nor
cooled by the surroundings.
In the next step, you will remove the
selection of these boundaries from the
heat flux selection list, which leaves
them with the default Thermal Insulation boundary condition for the Heat
Transfer in Solids interface.
3 Rotate the busbar to view the back. Move the mouse pointer over one of the
circular titanium bolt surfaces to highlight it in green. Click the bolt surface to
remove this boundary selection from the Selection list. Repeat this step to
remove the other two circular bolt surfaces from the selection list. Boundaries
8, 15, and 43 are removed.
Cross-check: Boundaries 8, 15, and 43 are removed from the
Selection list.

43

15

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4 In the Settings window for Heat
Flux, in the Heat Flux section, select
Convective heat flux as the Flux
type. Enter htc in the Heat transfer
coefficient field, h.
This parameter was either entered
in the Parameter table in “Global
Definitions” on page 81 or
imported with the geometry.

More advanced boundary conditions for heat transfer analysis are

available with the Heat Transfer Module. Examples include the
capability to give the total deposited power or to set boundary
conditions for common natural convection scenarios such as for a
horizontal or vertical wall.
Continue by setting the boundary conditions for the electric current according
to the following steps:
5 In the Model Builder window, right-click the Electric Currents node . In the
second section of the context menu — the boundary section — select Electric
Potential. An Electric Potential node is added to the model tree.

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6 Move the mouse pointer over the circular face of the single titanium bolt to
highlight it and then click to add it (boundary 43) to the Selection list.

43

7 In the Settings window for Electric

Potential, enter Vtot in the Electric
potential field.
The last step is to set the surfaces of the
two remaining bolts to ground.
8 In the Model Builder window, right-click the Electric Currents node . In the
boundary section of the context menu, select Ground. A Ground node is
added to the model tree. The model tree node sequence should now match this
figure.

The “warning” attribute displayed on the Ground node indicates that its
boundary selection is empty. The next step will be to select boundaries.

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9 In the Graphics window, click one of the remaining bolts to add it to the
Selection list.
Cross-check: Boundaries 8 and 15.

15

Repeat this step to add the last bolt. Boundaries 8 and 15 are added to the
selection list for the Ground boundary condition.
10On the Graphics toolbar, click the Go to Default View button .

More advanced boundary conditions for electromagnetics analysis are

available with the AC/DC Module, such as the capability to give the total
current on a boundary.

C OMBINING P HYSICS I NTERFACES M ANUALLY

As an alternative to using the preconfigured Joule Heating multiphysics interface,
you can manually combine the Electric Currents and Heat Transfer in Solids
interfaces. For example, you can start by setting up and solving the model for

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Electric Currents and then subsequently add Heat Transfer in Solids. In that case,
you right-click the Multiphysics node to add the required multiphysics couplings.

As an alternative, you can click the Add Multiphysics button in the Physics tab on
the ribbon and select a suggested multiphysics coupling in the Add Multiphysics
window.

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Me sh

The simplest way to mesh is to create an unstructured tetrahedral mesh, which is

perfect for the busbar model. Alternatively, you can create several meshing
sequences, as shown in “Adding Meshes” on page 143.
A physics-controlled mesh is created by default. In most cases, it is possible
to skip to the Study node and just solve to get a solution. For this exercise,
the settings are investigated in order to parameterize the mesh settings.
1 In the Model Builder window, click the
Mesh 1 node . In the Settings window
for Mesh, select User-controlled mesh
from the Sequence Type list.
2 Under Mesh 1, click the Size node .

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3 In the Settings window for Size, in
the Element Size section, click the
Custom button.
Under Element Size Parameters,
enter:
- mh in the Maximum element size
field. Note that mh is 3 mm — the
value entered earlier as a global
parameter. By using the parameter
mh, element sizes are limited by
this value.
- mh-mh/3 in the Minimum element
size field. The Minimum element
size is slightly smaller than the
maximum size.
- 0.2 in the Curvature factor field.
The Curvature factor determines
the number of elements on curved
boundaries; a lower value gives a
finer mesh.
The other two parameters are left
unchanged.
The Maximum element growth rate determines how fast the elements should
grow from small to large over a domain. The larger this value is, the larger the
growth rate. A value of 1 does not give any growth.
For Resolution of narrow regions, a higher value will generally result in a finer
mesh.
The asterisk (*) that displays in the upper-right corner of the Size node
indicates that the node is being edited.

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4 Click the Build All button in the Settings window for Size to create the mesh,
as in this figure:

You can also click Build Mesh in the Home tab of the ribbon.

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Study

1 To run a simulation, in the Model

Builder window, right-click Study
1 and choose Compute . You
can also press F8 or click
Compute on the ribbon Home tab.
The Study node automatically
defines a solution sequence for the
simulation based on the selected
physics and study type. In this case,
the simulation only takes a few
seconds to solve. During the
solution process, two Convergence plots are generated and are available from tabs
next to the Graphics window. These plots show the convergence progress of the
different solver algorithms engaged by the Study.

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Results

By default, in the Results node, four plot groups

are generated: a Volume plot of the Electric
Potential, a Multislice and Streamline Multislice plot
of the Electric Field Norm (the magnitude of the
electric field) and Electric Field, and a Volume plot
of the Temperature.
Click Results > Temperature to view the
Temperature plot in the Graphics window. The
temperature difference in the device is less than 10
K due to the high thermal conductivity of copper
and titanium. The temperature variations are
largest in the top bolt, which conducts double the
amount of current compared to the two lower
bolts. The temperature is substantially higher than the ambient temperature of
293 K.
1 Click and drag the image in the Graphics window to rotate and view the back of
the busbar.

2 In the Graphics toolbar, click the Go to Default 3D View button .

You can now manually set the color table range to visualize the temperature
difference in the copper part.
3 In the model tree, expand the Results > Temperature node and click the
Volume node .

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4 In the Settings window for Volume, click Range to expand the section. Select the
Manual color range check box and enter 324 in the Maximum field (keep the
default for Minimum and replace the default for Maximum). Click the Plot button
in the Settings window for Volume.

5 On the Graphics toolbar, click the Zoom Extents button to view the updated
plot.
6 Click and drag in the Graphics window to rotate the busbar and view the back.

The temperature distribution is laterally symmetric with a vertical mirror plane

running between the two lower titanium bolts and cutting through the center of
the upper bolt. In this case, the model does not require much computing power
and you can model the entire geometry. For more complex models, you can
consider using symmetries to reduce the computational requirements.
Select Go to Default View on the toolbar in the Graphics window .

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Then, generate a Surface plot that shows the current density in the device.
1 In the Model Builder window,
right-click Results and add a 3D Plot
Group . In the Label field, enter
Current Density to give the plot
group a descriptive name. Right-click
Current Density (former 3D Plot Group
4) and add a Surface node .

2 In the Settings window for Surface

under Expression, click the Replace
Expression button . Go to Model >
Component 1 > Electric Currents > Currents
and charge > ec.normJ - Current density
norm - A/m2 and double-click or press
Enter to select.
ec.normJ is the variable for the
magnitude, or absolute value, of the
current density vector. You can also
type ec.normJ in the Expression field
when you know the variable name or,
alternatively, use the auto completion
functionality by typing norm and then
pressing Ctrl+Space to get a variable
name suggestion.

3 Click the Plot button .

The plot that displays in the Graphics window is almost uniform in color due to
the high current density at the contact edges with the bolts. The next step is to
manually change the color table range to visualize the current density
distribution.

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4 In the Settings window for Surface under Range, select the Manual color range
check box. Enter 1e6 in the Maximum field and replace the default.

5 Click the Plot button .

The resulting plot shows that the current takes the shortest path in the
90-degree bend in the busbar. Notice that the edges of the busbar outside of
the bolts are hardly carrying any current.

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6 Click and drag the busbar in the Graphics window to view the back. Continue
rotating the image to see the high current density around the contact surfaces
of each of the bolts.

When you are done, click the Go to Default View button on the Graphics toolbar.

G ETTING THE M AXIMUM AND M INIMUM T EMPERATURE

You can easily obtain the maximum and minimum temperature values in the
busbar, including their locations.

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1 Right-click Results > Temperature and select More Volume Plots > Max/Min
Volume.

2 In the Settings window for Max/Min Volume under Expression, click the Replace
Expression button . Go to Model > Component 1 > Heat Transfer in Solids >
Temperature > T - Temperature - K and double-click or press Enter to select. You

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can also search for Temperature in the search field above the tree of
postprocessing variables or manually enter T. Click Plot.

The maximum and minimum values are plotted in the Graphics window and
their locations and values are displayed in the Maximum and minimum values

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 table. The values may vary a bit depending on the version you are running. For
a finer mesh the results will be the same regardless of version.

As an alternative to the method of plotting the maximum and minimum values

described above, you can use the Derived Values node or an Evaluation Group for a
pure numerical output. The following steps show how to use Derived Values.
3 In the Results section of the model tree, right-click the Derived Values node
and select Maximum > Volume Maximum .
4 In the Settings window for Volume Maximum, under Selection, choose All
domains.

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5 In the first row of the Expression table, enter T (unless it is automatically filled
out) for the temperature and click Evaluate at the top of the Settings window.

The resulting maximum temperature is shown in Table 1.

As a next step, you can create a model thumbnail image.

C REATING M ODEL I MAGES FROM P LOTS

With any solution, you can create an image to display when browsing for model
files. After generating a plot, click the corresponding plot node in the Model
Builder window under Results. Then, click the root node (the first node in the
model tree). In the Settings window for the root node, under Thumbnail, click Set
from Graphics Window.
There are two other ways to create images from a plot. One is to click the
Image Snapshot button in the Graphics window toolbar to directly create an

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image. You can also add an Image node to the Export node to create an image
file. Right-click the plot group of interest and then select Add Image to Export.
You can use the Image Snapshot button to export Results visualizations to
glTF™ (file extension .glb). These files can then be opened in 3D
visualization software such as Paint 3D from Microsoft, as shown in the
figure below. (If you are running Windows 10 or 11, then this may be
available in your system. Otherwise, you can download it from the
Microsoft Store.) You can also find glTF™ viewers online that run in
web browsers.

Make sure to save the model at this stage. This version of the model,
busbar.mph, is reused and renamed during the next set of tutorials.
Alternatively, for the subsequent tutorials, you can use the busbar file in
the Application Libraries under COMSOL Multiphysics > Multiphysics.

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Building an Application with the Application Builder

This section gives a brief introduction to using the Application Builder to create
applications, using the busbar model to demonstrate. Each application will have a
specialized user interface dedicated to interacting with the busbar model that
includes input fields for the length, width, and applied voltage. The outputs will
be the maximum temperature and a temperature plot.
In this introduction, you will learn how to use the New Form wizard to quickly
create an application in two different ways, using two different layout templates.
The wizard is used to create one or more forms with user interface components
called form objects. The wizard gives quick access to a subset of all of the form
objects available for creating applications with the Application Builder. In the
following examples, you will learn how to add input fields, numerical outputs,
graphics, and buttons. For detailed information on building applications, see the
Introduction to Application Builder manual.
The first example shows how to create an application based on a single form, using
the Single form template. The Single form template makes it easy to interactively
move buttons and edit fields by dragging. However, it does not allow you to resize
the graphics when changing the size of the application window. The second
example demonstrates how to use the Basic template to create an application with
several forms, subwindows, and a ribbon. Using this template automatically
creates an application with a resizable graphics window.

C REATING AN A PPLICATION U SING A N EW S INGLE F ORM

1 This example uses the busbar model. You can open the busbar file from the
Application Libraries under COMSOL Multiphysics > Multiphysics or, if you saved
your model upon completing Example 2 on page 116, you can open your saved
busbar.mph file.
To switch from the Model Builder to the Application Builder, click the
Application Builder button in the leftmost Workspace section of the Home tab on
the ribbon.

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2 To create a new form, click the New Form button on the ribbon. This will create
a new global form.

In the Select Template page of the wizard, select Single form.

Click Content to continue.

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The Select Content page appears.

It consists of four tabs for Inputs, Outputs, Graphics, and Buttons. On the Inputs
tab, you can double-click the parameters in the tree to make them available in
the user interface of the application. For this application, we will select a few of
the parameters as input fields and the maximum temperature as the output.

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3 On the Inputs page, double-click each of the parameters: Length (L), Width
(wbb), and Applied voltage (Vtot). Also, on the Outputs tab double-click Volume
Maximum under Derived Values.

The Preview section to the right displays the user interface layout.
4 Click the Graphics tab in the wizard and double-click the Temperature plot. A
graphics object placeholder appears in the Preview area.

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5 Click the Buttons tab in the wizard and double-click Compute Study. A Compute
button now appears in the Preview area beneath the graphics object.

6 Finally, click Done to accept the settings and close the wizard.
After closing the Form wizard, the Form Editor is opened in the Application
Builder workspace. The Form Editor allows you to drag and drop form objects
and add new form objects. The default view is a preview of the form. Double-click
form1 to enable editing.

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7 You can rearrange the user interface by dragging the graphics object to the right
of the input fields and dragging the button to a position directly under the input
fields, as shown in the figure below. Blue guidelines will aid you in aligning the
objects.

You can make the graphics object larger or smaller by dragging the blue handles.

122 |
8 You can test the application by clicking Test Application on the ribbon.

Alternatively, you can click the corresponding button in the Quick Access
Toolbar. This creates a run-time copy of the application and lets you quickly try
different designs during the process of developing an application.

9 Now, try a different Length value, for example, and click Compute.

A DDING A B UTTON
You may wish to preview the geometry before starting the computation. This can
easily be done by adding a button. There are two ways to add a button. Either click
Button button in the Form Objects section of the Form tab on the ribbon, as shown
in the figure below, or use the Editor Tools window. In this example, you will use
the latter method.

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1 First, make sure the Editor Tools window is visible by selecting the
corresponding button on the Home tab of the ribbon.

2 In the Editor Tools tree, right-click the Geometry node and select Button.

3 Drag the Geometry button to the left of the Compute button.

For each button, there is a command sequence that controls the action taken
when it is pressed. The command sequence is defined in the Settings window of

124 |
 the button. You can open the Settings window (if not already opened) by
double-clicking a button.
4 Double-click the Geometry button to see its Settings window. Command
sequences appear below the tree in the Choose Commands to Run section.

In this case, the command sequence for the Geometry has one command for
plotting the geometry. The input argument contains information concerning
which graphics window to send the geometry plot to. In this case, the graphics
object is graphics1.
To automatically adjust the axis settings, you can add a Zoom Extents command.
5 In the Choose Commands to Run section, locate the Zoom Extents command
under GUI Commands > Graphics Commands. Double-click to add it to the
command sequence.
6 Now, create the input argument to the Zoom Extents command. Click the white
field next to Zoom extents and click the Edit Argument button.

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7 This opens a dialog box with possible input arguments. Select graphics1 under
form1.

8 The command sequence is now complete.

9 To make sure the new Geometry button works, you can test the application again
by clicking Test Application on the ribbon.

U SING F ORMS IN THE M ODEL B UILDER

Forms without graphics form objects can be used in the Model Builder. You can
use this functionality to create customized Settings windows for common or
repetitive tasks, for example. If you would like to reuse your customized Settings
window between sessions or even with other users, you can create an add-in, as
explained in the Introduction to Application Builder.

126 |
To use a form in the Model Builder that was created with the Application Builder,
right-click Global Definitions and select the form under Settings Forms.

M ETHODS
When you need to perform a more advanced operation than what is possible with
a command sequence, you can use the Method Editor to write code that defines
the actions to be taken when the user clicks a button, selects a menu item, etc. In
addition to calling methods from applications or Settings Forms, you can call
methods from the Developer tab on the ribbon or from Method Calls in the model
tree. For more information, see Introduction to Application Builder.
An easy way to get started with the Method Editor is to convert an existing
command sequence into a method.
1 In the Application Builder, locate or open the Settings window for the Geometry
button again. Select Convert to Method in the menu below the command
sequence. (The other two options in the drop-down list are for creating two
types of local methods.)

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2 To open the method in the Method Editor, click the Go to Method button below
the command sequence.

The Method Editor now opens with the code for method1, corresponding to
the Plot Geometry and the Zoom Extents commands in the previous command
sequence.

The Application Builder has several tools for automatically generating code. In
addition to converting a command sequence to a method, you can, for example,
click Record Code on the ribbon.

This will generate code for each operation performed in the COMSOL Desktop
windows. Click Stop Recording on the ribbon to stop recording and go back to the
Method Editor.

C REATING AN A PPLICATION U SING THE B ASIC T EMPLATE

This second example shows how to use the Basic template to create an application
with several forms, subwindows, and a ribbon. Using this template creates an
application with a resizable graphics window. Note that the type of applications
that you create using templates can also be built using manual steps by starting

128 |
from a Blank form or Single form template; however, using templates accelerates
this process. For more information, see Introduction to Application Builder.
This example uses the busbar model. You can open the busbar file from the
Application Libraries under COMSOL Multiphysics > Multiphysics or, if you saved
your model upon completing Example 2 on page 116, you can open your saved
busbar.mph file.
1 To switch from the Model Builder to the Application Builder, click the
Application Builder button in the leftmost Workspace section of the Home tab on
the ribbon.

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2 To create a new form, click the New Form button on the ribbon. This will create
a new global form.

In the Select Template page of the wizard, select Basic.

Click Content to continue.

130 |
 The Select Content page appears.

Just like when using the Single form template, this page consists of four tabs for
Inputs, Outputs, Graphics, and Ribbon buttons. On the Inputs tab, you can
double-click the parameters in the tree to make these available in the user
interface of the application. In the same way as in the earlier example, using the
Single form template, on the Inputs tab, double-click each of the parameters:
Length (L), Width (wbb), and Applied voltage (Vtot). Also, in the Outputs page
double-click Volume Maximum under Derived Values.
3 Continue by clicking the Graphics tab in the wizard and double-click the
Temperature plot. A graphics object placeholder appears in the Preview area.

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When using the Basic layout template, this selection determines the default plot
shown when the application is started.
4 The Ribbon buttons tab displays the model and application tree nodes that can
be run by clicking a button on the ribbon in the application user interface.
In the figure below, buttons have been added corresponding to the actions: Plot
Geometry, Plot Mesh, Compute Study, Plot Electric Potential, Plot Temperature,
Plot Current Density, and Reset Window Layout.

The option Reset Window Layout is available under GUI Commands > Main
Window Commands > Reset Window Layout. The application consists of two
subwindows, one for the inputs and outputs and one for the graphics. The Reset
Window Layout button will reset the two resizable subwindows in the application
to their original size. The Subwindows template is similar to the Basic template
but additionally allows you to detach, move around, and dock the subwindows.
In this case, the Reset Window Layout operation will rearrange all subwindows
to their original position and size.
Using the Main Window Editor in the Application Builder, you can add ribbon
buttons that run your own custom command sequences or methods.
Click Done to exit the wizard. This automatically takes you to the Main Window
Editor.

132 |
5 You can test the application by clicking Test Application on the ribbon.

To learn more about using the Form Editor and the Method Editor, see the book
Introduction to Application Builder, which provides more information on
writing methods. For more in-depth information on methods, see the
Application Programming Guide and the Application Builder Reference
Manual.
This completes the busbar example. To switch back to the Model Builder, click
the Model Builder button on the ribbon.

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Over view of A d vance d Topics

The next sections are designed to deepen your understanding of the steps
implemented so far and to extend your simulation to include additional effects like
thermal expansion and fluid flow. These additional topics begin on the following
pages:
• “Parameters, Functions, Variables, and Couplings” on page 136
• “Material Properties and Material Libraries” on page 141
• “Adding Meshes” on page 143
• “Adding Physics” on page 146
• “Parametric Sweeps” on page 169
• “Parallel Computing” on page 181
• “COMSOL Multiphysics Client–Server” on page 185
• “Appendix A — Building a Geometry” on page 214

134 |
Advanced Topics

| 135
Parameters, Functions, Variables, and Couplings

This section explores working with parameters, functions, variables, and nonlocal
couplings.
The Global Definitions and Component > Definitions nodes contain functionality
that helps you to prepare model inputs and nonlocal couplings and to organize
simulations. You have already used the functionality for adding parameters to
organize model inputs in “Global Definitions” on page 81.
Functions, available as both Global Definitions and Component > Definitions,
contain a set of predefined function templates that can be useful when setting up
multiphysics simulations. For example, the Step function template can create a
smooth step function for defining different types of spatial or temporal transitions.
To illustrate using functions, assume that you want to add a time-dependent study
to the busbar model, where an electric potential is applied across the busbar that
goes from 0 V to 20 mV in 0.5 seconds. For this purpose, you could use a step
function to be multiplied with the parameter Vtot. In this section, you will add a
step function to the model that goes smoothly from 0 to 1 in 0.5 seconds to find
out how functions can be defined and verified.

D EFINING F UNCTIONS
For this section, you can continue working with the same model file created in the
previous section. Locate and open the file busbar.mph from page 116 if it is not
already open on the desktop.

136 |
1 Right-click the Global Definitions node and select Functions > Step .

2 In the Settings window for Step, enter 0.25 in the Location field to set the
location of the middle of the step function, where it has the value of 0.5.

| 137
3 Click Smoothing to expand the section and enter 0.5 in the Size of transition zone
field to set the width of the smoothing interval. Keep the default Number of
continuous derivatives at 2.
4 Click the Plot button in the Settings window for Step.
If your plot matches the one below, this confirms that you have defined the
function correctly.

You can enable an interactive tooltip that displays data values while
hovering over the graph. To enable this, click the Enable Tooltip button in
the Graphics toolbar.

You can also add comments to the function to make it more descriptive.

138 |
5 Right-click the Step 1 node in the Model Builder window and select
Properties .

6 In the Properties window, enter any information you want. Right-click the
Properties tab and select Close when you are finished. Special characters and
markup tags that you use here will be displayed in reports generated from the
Reports node.

For the purpose of this exercise, assume that you want to introduce additional
components, for example, a second component to represent an electric device
connected to the busbar through the titanium bolts.

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In this case, it is good practice to give each component a descriptive name. Now,
rename Component 1 to specify that it represents the busbar.
1 Right-click the Component 1 node and select Rename (or press F2).
2 In the Rename Component window, enter Busbar. Click OK and save the model.

D EFINING NONLOCAL COUPLINGS AND P ROBES

Right-click the Definitions node under Busbar
(comp1) to introduce a nonlocal coupling that
computes the integral of any Busbar (comp1)
variable at the bolt boundaries facing the electric
device. You can use such a coupling to define a
variable in a Variables node under the Global
Definitions node that calculates the total current.
This variable is then globally accessible and
could, for example, form a boundary condition
for the current that is fed to an electric device
modeled as a second component.
The Nonlocal Couplings in Definitions have a wide
range of uses. The Average , Maximum , and
Minimum couplings have applications in
generating results as well as in boundary
conditions, sources, sinks, properties, or any
other contribution to the model equations. The Probes are for monitoring the
solution progress. For instance, you can follow the solution at a critical point
during a time-dependent simulation or for each parameter value in a parametric
study.
You can find an example of using the average operator in “Parametric Sweeps” on
page 169. Also see “Functions” on page 245 for a list of available functions.
To learn more about working with definitions, in the Model Builder window,
click the Definitions or Global Definitions node and press F1 to open the
Help window . This window displays helpful information about the selected
item in the desktop and provides links to the documentation. It could take
up to a minute for the window to load the first time it is activated, but will
load quickly the next time it is opened.

140 |
Material Properties and Material Libraries

You have already used the functionality in the Materials node to access the
properties of copper and titanium in the busbar model. In the Materials node, you
are also able to define your own materials and save them in your material library.
In addition, you can add material properties to existing materials. In cases where
you define properties that are functions of other variables, typically temperature,
the plot functionality helps you to verify the property functions in the range of
interest. You can also load Excel® spreadsheets and define interpolation functions
for material properties using LiveLink™ for Excel®.
The Material Library add-on product contains over 15000 materials with
hundreds of thousands of material properties. In addition, many of the add-on
products include material libraries relevant to their application areas.
First, investigate how to add properties to an existing material. Assume that you
want to add bulk modulus and shear modulus to the copper properties.

C USTOMIZING M ATERIALS
Let us keep working on the busbar.
1 In the Model Builder window, under Materials,
click Copper .

2 In the Settings window for

Material, click to expand the
Material Properties section,
which contains a list of all of
the definable properties.
Expand the Solid Mechanics >
Linear Elastic Material section.
Right-click Bulk Modulus and
Shear Modulus and select
Add to Material.
This lets you define the bulk
modulus and shear modulus
for the copper in your model.
3 In the Copper node, locate the Material Contents section. Bulk modulus and Shear
modulus rows are now available in the table. The warning sign indicates that

| 141
 the values are not yet defined. To define the values, click the Value column. In
the Bulk modulus row, enter 140e9 and in the Shear modulus row, enter 46e9.

By adding these material properties, you have changed the contents of the Copper
material. You can save this information in your own material library, but not in the
read-only Solid Mechanics materials library.
4 In the Model Builder window, right-click Copper and select Add to User-Defined
Library .

To see this library, click the Browse Materials in the Materials tab on the ribbon.

142 |
Adding Mesh es

A model component can contain different mesh sequences for generating meshes
with different settings. A mesh sequence is an ordered set of instructions for
generating a mesh. Mesh sequences can be accessed by the study steps. In a study,
you can select which mesh you would like to use in a particular simulation.
In the busbar model, a second mesh node is now added to create a mesh that is a
bit coarser (has larger elements).

A DDING A M ESH
1 Open the model busbar.mph that
was saved earlier on page 116.
2 In order to keep this model in a
separate file for later use, select File
> Save As and rename the model
busbar_I.mph.
3 To add a second mesh node,
right-click the Component 1 node
and select Add Mesh . (If you
followed the instructions in
“Parameters, Functions, Variables,
and Couplings” on page 136, the
name of Component 1 is Busbar
instead.)
By adding another Mesh node, a
Meshes parent node is created that
contains both Mesh 1 and Mesh 2.
4 Click the Mesh 2 node. In the Settings
window for Mesh under Mesh Settings, select
User-controlled mesh as the Sequence type.
A Size and Free Tetrahedral node are now
available under Mesh 2.

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5 In the Model Builder window, under Mesh 2, click Size .

The asterisk in the upper-right corner of a node icon indicates that the node is
being edited.
6 In the Settings window for Size, under Element Size, click the Custom button.
7 Under Element Size Parameters, enter:
- 2*mh in the Maximum element size field, where mh is 3 mm — the mesh control
parameter defined previously.
- 2*(mh-mh/3) in the Minimum element size field.
- 0.2 in the Curvature factor field.
8 Click Build All . Save the file as busbar_I.mph.
Compare Mesh 1 and Mesh 2 by clicking the Mesh nodes. The mesh is updated in
the Graphics window. An alternative to
creating multiple meshes in this way is to
run a parametric sweep of the parameter

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for the maximum mesh size, mh, that was
defined in the section “Global Definitions” on page 81.

Mesh 1 Mesh 2

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Adding Physics

The distinguishing characteristics of COMSOL Multiphysics, particularly

adaptability and compatibility, are prominently displayed when you add physics to
an existing model.
In this section, you will experience the ease with which this seemingly difficult task
is performed. By following these directions, you can add structural mechanics and
fluid flow to the busbar model.

S TRUCTURAL M ECHANICS
After completing the busbar Joule heating simulation, we know that there is a
temperature rise in the busbar. What kind of mechanical stress is induced by
thermal expansion? To answer this question, let us expand the model to include
the physics associated with structural mechanics.
To complete these steps, either the Structural Mechanics Module or the
MEMS Module (which enhances the core Solid Mechanics interface) is
required.
If you want to add cooling by fluid flow, or do not have the Structural
Mechanics Module or MEMS Module, read this section and then go to
“Cooling by Adding Fluid Flow” on page 155.
1 Open the model busbar.mph that was saved earlier on page 116. From the main
menu, select File > Save As and rename the model busbar_II.mph. Alternatively,
you could load the busbar.mph model from the Application Libraries as shown
earlier.
2 In the Model Builder window,
right-click the Component 1 node
and select Add Physics .

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3 In the Add Physics window, under
Structural Mechanics, select Solid
Mechanics .
To add this interface, you can
right-click and select Add to
Component 1 or click the Add to
Component 1 button at the top of
the window. You can also
double-click.
4 Close the Add Physics window and
save the file.

When adding additional physics, you need to make sure that materials
included in the Materials node have all of the required properties for the
selected physics. In this example, all properties are already available for
copper and titanium.
You can start by adding the effect of thermal expansion to the structural
analysis.
5 In the Model Builder window,
right-click the Multiphysics node
and select Thermal Expansion .
A Thermal Expansion node is added
to the model tree.
You can also use the ribbon and,
from the Physics tab, select
Multiphysics Couplings > Thermal
Expansion.

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6 In the Settings window for Thermal
Expansion, select All domains from the
Selection list. This will enable thermal
expansion in the copper as well as in the
titanium bolts.
The Thermal Expansion Properties
section of this window shows
information about the coefficient of
thermal expansion and the strain
reference temperature (there are also
some more advanced settings). The
Coefficient of thermal expansion takes its
value from the Materials node. In the
Model Input section, the Volume
reference temperature (strain reference
temperature) has a default value of
293.15 K (room temperature) taken
from Common model input, which in
this case corresponds to the Default
Model Inputs node that is available in
Global Definitions, and defines the
temperature for which there is no
thermal expansion. The Coupled
Interfaces section shows which two
physics interfaces define the physics for
heat transfer and solid mechanics. This
is useful in the case where there is more
than one physics interface for heat
transfer or solid mechanics in the model
component. Keep all default settings in
this window.
Next, constrain the busbar at the position of the titanium bolts.
7 In the model tree, right-click Solid Mechanics and from the boundary level,
select Fixed Constraint . A node with the same name is added to the tree.
8 Click the Fixed Constraint node . In the Graphics
window, rotate the busbar to view the back. Click the
circular surface of one of the bolts to add it to the
Selection list.

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9 Repeat this procedure for the remaining bolts to add boundaries 8, 15, and 43.

15 43

For easier management of multiple boundary selections, you can group

boundaries into a user-defined selection. Once you have selected
boundaries 8, 15, and 43, click the Create Selection button and give it
a name, such as Bolt top surfaces.
This selection is then added as a node under Component 1 > Definitions and
is accessible from the Selection list in the Settings window for all types of
boundary conditions. You can use this technique to group domains,
boundaries, edges, and points. In the figure below, an additional selection
for the titanium bolt domains has been created.

Next, we update the Study node to take the added physics into account.

S OLVING FOR J OULE H EATING AND T HERMAL E XPANSION

The Joule heating effect is independent of the stresses and strains in the busbar,
assuming temperature invariant materials and small deformations, and ignoring
the effects of electric contact pressure. This means that you can run the simulation
using the temperature as merely an input to the structural analysis. In other words,
the extended multiphysics problem is weakly coupled. As such, you can solve it in

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two separate study steps to save computation time — one for Joule heating and a
second one for structural analysis. In a more advanced analysis, you can include all
of the aforementioned effects.
For this example, you can skip these steps and just click Compute.
However, the following technique can be useful for saving computational
time and memory resources, especially for larger simulations.
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click
Study 1 and select Study Steps > Stationary >
Stationary to add a second stationary study
step.

When adding study steps, you need to manually connect the respective
physics with the correct study step. We start by disabling the structural
analysis from the first step.
2 Under Study 1, click the Step 1: Stationary node
.
3 In the Settings window for Stationary, locate the
Physics and Variables Selection.
4 In the Solid Mechanics (solid) row under Solve for, click to change the check mark
to an to remove Solid Mechanics from Study Step 1.
In the Multiphysics couplings section, keep all of the default settings.

Now, repeat these steps to remove Electric Currents (ec) and Heat Transfer in
Solids (ht) from the second study step.
5 Under Study 1, click Step 2: Stationary 2 .

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6 Under Physics and Variables Selection, in the Electric Currents (ec) and
Heat Transfer in Solids (ht) rows, click to change the check mark to
an to remove Joule heating from Step 2: Stationary 2.

7 Right-click the Study 1 node and select Compute (or press F8 or click
Compute on the ribbon) to solve.

Save the file as busbar_II.mph, which now includes the Solid Mechanics interface
and the additional study step.

R ESULTING D EFORMATION
Now that a physics interface has been added, additional plots for Solid Mechanics
need to be added manually. First, a displacement plot.
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Results and add a 3D Plot Group .
In the Label field enter Displacement to give the plot group a descriptive name.
Right-click Displacement and add a Surface 1 node . Click the Surface 1
node .

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2 In the Settings window for Surface in
the Expression section, click the Replace
Expression button .

From the context menu, select Model >

Component 1 > Solid Mechanics >
Displacement > solid.disp - Displacement
magnitude - m.
You can also enter solid.disp in the
Expression field.
Now, change to a more suitable unit.
In the Settings window under
Expression, from the Unit list, select mm
(or type mm in the field).
The local displacement due to thermal
expansion is displayed as a surface plot.
Alternatively, you can use the Add Predefined Plot window to add a
Displacement plot.

Next, we will add information about the busbar deformation.

3 In the Model Builder window, under Results > Displacement, right-click the
Surface 1 node and add a Deformation node . The plot automatically
updates in the Graphics window. Click the Go to Default View button so your
view appears similar to the plot shown below.

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 The deformations shown in the figure are highly amplified to make the
very small distortions that actually take place more visible.

4 Save the busbar_II.mph file, which now includes a Surface plot with a
Deformation.

You can also plot the von Mises and principal stresses to assess the
structural integrity of the busbar and the bolts.

O VERRIDE AND C ONTRIBUTION : E XCLUSIVE AND C ONTRIBUTING N ODES

The model tree nodes for a physics interface are traversed in a downward sequence
starting from the top. Depending on the selection, a node can totally or partially
override, or shadow, a node that comes earlier in the sequence. There are two
types of physics interface nodes: exclusive and contributing. How the nodes are
treated depends on the type.
A constraint boundary condition is a typical example of an exclusive node.
Examples of constraint boundary conditions include Electric Potential or Fixed
Constraint. In the case of Electric Currents, for example, if there are two or more
Electric Potential nodes for the same boundary, then the last Electric Potential node
in the sequence will override the settings of the other nodes. The Ground node is
also an exclusive node and will similarly override the boundary conditions specified
by any previous node.

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The figure below shows the Override and Contribution section in the Settings
window for Electric Potential. The Overrides list indicates that this boundary
condition takes precedence over the default Electric Insulation boundary condition.

A flux boundary condition, such as one specifying a heat flux, is a typical example
of a contributing node. You can stack several heat flux boundary conditions and
they will all contribute to the total heat flux. The figure below shows an example
where a Heat Flux 2 boundary condition overrides the default Thermal Insulation
boundary condition and contributes to the heat flux together with Heat Flux 1.

In the model tree, the override and contribution relationships are indicated by a
red arrow and an orange circle, respectively.

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C OOLING BY A DDING F LUID F LOW
After analyzing the heat generated in the busbar and possibly the induced thermal
expansion, you might want to investigate ways of cooling the busbar by letting air
flow over its surfaces. These steps do not require any additional modules, as the
model only includes Joule heating without the previous thermal expansion
analysis.
If you use either the Nonisothermal Flow or Conjugate Heat Transfer
multiphysics interface, the coupling between heat transfer in solids and fluids
is automatic, whereas in this example, this is done manually and with limited
functionality. This is to illustrate adding a multiphysics coupling to an already
existing analysis.
Adding fluid flow to the Joule heating model creates a new multiphysics coupling.
To simulate the flow domain, you need to create an air box around the busbar for
the external flow. You can do this manually by altering the geometry from your
first model or by opening an Application Library file. To save time, open a file with
the box already created.
After loading the geometry, as described later, you will learn how to simulate air
flow according to this figure:
Air outlet

Air inlet

D EFINING I NLET V ELOCITY

Start by loading the geometry and adding a new parameter for the inlet flow
velocity.

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1 If you have just reopened the software, close the New window that opens
automatically by clicking the Cancel button .
2 Click the Home tab, and, from the Windows menu, select Application Libraries .
Navigate to COMSOL Multiphysics > Multiphysics > busbar box. (You can also
open the Application Libraries directly from the File menu.)
Double-click to open the file,
which contains the geometry
in addition to the physics
modeling steps completed
through the end of the
section “Customizing
Materials” on page 141.

3 Under Global Definitions, click

the Parameters node .
4 In the Settings window for Parameters, click the empty row just below the Vtot
row. In the Name column, enter Vin. Enter 0.1[m/s] in the Expression column

156 |
 and a description of your choice in the Description column, such as Inlet
velocity.

5 Select File > Save As and save the model with a new name, busbar_box_I.mph.

A DDING A IR
The next step is to add the material properties of air.
1 From the Home tab, select Add Material (or right-click the Materials node and
select Add Material from Library).
2 In the Add Material window, expand
the Built-In node. Right-click Air and
select Add to Component 1. Close the
Add Material window.

3 In the Model Builder window, under Materials, click the Air node .

4 On the Graphics window toolbar, click Zoom Extents .

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5 In the Graphics window, click the air box (domain 1) to add it to the Selection
list, which changes the color to blue. This step assigns the air material properties
to the air box.

A DDING F LUID F LOW

Now, add the physics of fluid flow.
1 In the model tree, right-click Component 1 and select Add Physics .
2 In the Add Physics window under
Fluid Flow > Single-Phase Flow,
right-click Laminar Flow and
select Add to Component.
Laminar Flow will appear under
Component 1 in the model tree.
Close the Add Physics window.
3 In the Graphics toolbar, click the
Transparency button . In
addition, click the Wireframe
Rendering button . These two
settings make it easier to see inside
the box. Toggle these on and off as
needed during the modeling
process to control the type of
rendering used.
Now that you have added fluid flow to the model, you need to remove the air
domain (domain 1) from the Electric Currents (ec) interface (assuming that the
air has no electric conductivity and hence no currents) and then couple the heat
transfer part of the Joule Heating multiphysics interface to the fluid flow.

158 |
4 In the model tree, select the
Electric Currents (ec) node
. In the Graphics window,
move the mouse pointer
over the air domain and
click to remove it from the
selection list. At this point,
only the busbar should be
selected and highlighted in
blue.

5 In the Model Builder window, right-click Heat Transfer in Solids . In the first
section of the context menu, the domain level , select Fluid.

6 In the Graphics window, click the

air domain (domain 1) to add it to
the Selection list.
Now, couple the fluid flow and
heat transfer phenomena.

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7 In the Settings window for Fluid, under
Heat Transfer in Solids, in the section
Model Input, select Absolute pressure
(spf) from the Absolute pressure list. In
the section Heat Convection, select
Velocity field (spf) from the Velocity field
list.
This identifies the pressure and flow
field from the Laminar Flow interface
and couples it to heat transfer.
Now, define the boundary conditions
by specifying the inlet and outlet for the
heat transfer in the fluid domain.
8 In the Model Builder window, right-click Heat
Transfer in Solids . In the second section of
the context menu, the boundary section ,
select Temperature.
A Temperature node is added to the model
tree.

9 In the Graphics window, click the

inlet boundary, boundary number
2, to add it to the Selection list.
This sets the inlet temperature to
293.15 K, the default setting.
The graphics should look like the
image to the right. (It may look
slightly different depending on
whether you have Transparency and
Wireframe Rendering on or off.)
Continue by defining the outlet.

160 |
10In the Model Builder window, right-click Heat Transfer in Solids . At the
boundary level, select Flow Conditions > Outflow. An Outflow node is added
to the model tree.

11In the Graphics window, click the

outlet boundary, boundary
number 5, to add it to the
Selection list. Use the mouse scroll
wheel to scroll in and highlight
the boundary before selecting it,
or use the up and down arrow
keyboard buttons.

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 The settings for the busbar, the bolts, and the Electric Potential 1 and
Ground 1 boundaries have retained the correct selection, even though you
added the box geometry for the air domain. To confirm this, in the model
tree under Electric Currents, click the Electric Potential 1 and the Ground 1
nodes to verify that they have the correct boundary selection.

Next, continue with the flow settings. You need to indicate that fluid flow only
takes place in the fluid domain and then set the inlet, outlet, and symmetry
conditions. Do this by first removing all domains from the selection and then
adding the air domain.
1 In the model tree, click the Laminar Flow node . In the Settings window for
Laminar Flow, click the Clear Selection button .

162 |
2 In the Graphics window, click the air box (domain 1) to add it to the Selection.

It is good practice to verify that the Air

material under the Materials node has all of
the properties that this multiphysics
combination requires. In the model tree
under Materials, click Air. In the Settings
window for Material under Material Contents, verify that there are no
missing properties, which are marked with a warning sign . The section
“Materials” on page 89 has more information.
Now, we continue with the boundaries.
3 In the Model Builder window, right-click Laminar Flow
and at the boundary level, select Inlet. An Inlet node
is added to the model tree.

4 In the Graphics window, click the

inlet (boundary 2) to add it to the
Selection list.

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5 In the Settings window for Inlet
under Velocity in the U0 field,
enter Vin to set the Normal inflow
velocity.

6 Right-click Laminar Flow and at

the boundary level, select Outlet .
In the Graphics window, click the
outlet (boundary 5) to add it to the
Selection list. Use the mouse scroll
wheel or keyboard arrows to scroll
in and highlight the boundary
before selecting it.
The last step is to add symmetry
boundaries. For simplicity, assume
that the flow just outside of the
faces of the channel is similar to the
flow just inside of these faces. This
assumption can be correctly
expressed by the symmetry
condition.
7 Right-click Laminar Flow and select Symmetry. A Symmetry node is added
to the sequence.
8 In the Graphics window, click each of the blue faces in the figure below
(boundaries 1, 3, 4, and 48) to add all of them to the Selection list. You may need
to use the mouse scroll wheel or rotate the geometry to select all of them.
Save the busbar_box_I.mph file, which
now includes the Air material and
Laminar Flow interface settings.

164 |
 When you know the boundary
numbers, you can click the
Paste Selection button and
enter the information. In this
example, enter 1,3,4,48 in the
Paste Selection window. Click
OK and the boundaries are automatically added to the Selection list.

C OARSENING THE M ESH

To get a quick solution, we will change the mesh slightly and make it coarser. The
current mesh settings would take a relatively long time to solve, and you can
always refine it later.
1 In the Model Builder window, expand the Mesh 1
node and click the Size node .

2 In the Settings window for Size

under Element Size, click the
Predefined button and ensure that
Normal is selected.

3 Click the Build All button . The

geometry displays with a mesh in
the Graphics window (you may
need to turn Transparency off to see
the picture below).
You can assume that the flow velocity
is large enough to neglect the
influence of the temperature increase
in the flow field.
It follows that you can solve for the
flow field first and then solve for the
temperature using the results from
the flow field as input. This is
implemented with a study sequence.

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S OLVING FOR F LUID F LOW AND J OULE H EATING
When the flow field is solved before the temperature field, it yields a weakly
coupled multiphysics problem. The study sequence described in this section
automatically solves such a weak, or one-directional, coupling.
1 In the model tree, right-click Study 1 and select Study Steps > Stationary >
Stationary to add a second stationary study step to the Model Builder window.

Next, the correct physics needs to be connected with the correct study step.
Start by disabling the Electric Currents (ec) and Heat Transfer in Solids (ht)
interfaces associated with Joule heating from the first step.
2 Under Study 1, click Step 1: Stationary .

3 In the Settings window for Stationary, locate the Physics and Variables Selection
section. In both the Electric Currents (ec) and the Heat Transfer in Solids (ht)
rows, click to change the check mark to an in the Solve for column,
removing the Joule heating effect from Step 1.

166 |
4 Repeat the step. Under Study 1, click Step 2: Stationary 2 . Under Physics and
Variables Selection, in the Laminar Flow (spf) row, click in the Solve for column to
change the check mark to an .

5 Right-click the Study 1 node and select Compute (or press F8 or click
Compute on the ribbon). This will now automatically create a new solver
sequence that solves for laminar flow and then Joule heating.

6 After the solution is complete, select the Temperature (ht) plot under the Results
node in the Model Builder window. If you do not already have transparency on,
click the Transparency button on the Graphics toolbar to visualize the

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 temperature field inside the box. To zoom, middle-click and hold down the
mouse button (or scroll wheel) while dragging the mouse.

The Temperature plot that displays in the Graphics window shows the
temperature in the busbar and in the surrounding box. You can also see that the
temperature field is not smooth due to the relatively coarse mesh. A good
strategy to get a smoother solution would be to refine the mesh to estimate the
accuracy.
7 At this point, save the busbar_box_I.mph file so you can return to it at any time.
The next steps use the original busbar.mph file.

168 |
P a r a m e t r i c S w e ep s

S WEEPING A G EOMETRIC P ARAMETER

It is often useful to generate multiple instances of a design with the objective of
meeting specific constraints. In the previous busbar example, a design goal might
be to lower the operating temperature or decrease the current density. We will
demonstrate the former. Since the current density depends on the geometry of the
busbar, varying the width, wbb, should change the current density and, in turn,
have some impact on the operating temperature. Let us run a parametric sweep on
wbb to study this change.

A DDING A P ARAMETRIC S WEEP

1 From the File menu, open the
model file busbar.mph. If you did
not save the model, you can also
open it from the Application
Libraries: File > Application
Libraries > COMSOL Multiphysics >
Multiphysics > busbar.
In the Model Builder window,
right-click Study 1 and select Parametric Sweep . A Parametric Sweep node
is added to the Model Builder sequence.
2 In the Settings window for Parametric Sweep, under the empty parameter table,
click the Add button . From the Parameter names list in the table, select wbb.

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 The Sweep type is used to control parametric sweeps with multiple
parameters. You can choose between sweeping for All combinations of
the given parameters, a subset of Specified combinations, or Parameter
switch. The option Parameter switch makes it possible to sweep over
Cases for Parameters, as defined in Global Definitions (shown below).

Note that you can replace the set of main Parameters used in the model
with that of a Case by selecting from the menu in the upper-left corner
of the Parameters window.

170 |
3 Enter a range of parameter values to sweep the width of the busbar from 5 cm
to 10 cm in 1 cm increments. There are different ways to enter this information:
- Copy and paste or enter range(0.05,0.01,0.1) into the Parameter value list
field.
- Click the Parameter value list field and then
click the Range button and enter the
values in the Range dialog box. In the Start
field, enter 0.05. In the Step field, enter
0.01, and in the Stop field, enter 0.1. Click
Replace.
- In any of the methods, you can also use
length units to override the default SI unit
system using meters. Instead of 0.05, you
can enter 5[cm]; similarly, 1[cm] instead of
0.01 and 10[cm] instead of 0.1. You can also
change the default unit system from the
Settings window of the root node in the
model tree.

Next, define an Average nonlocal coupling that can be used later to calculate the
average temperature in the busbar.

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4 Under Component 1, right-click Definitions and select Nonlocal Couplings >
Average .

5 In the Settings window for Average, select All domains from the Selection list.

This creates an operator called aveop1. This operator is now available to

calculate the average of any quantity defined on the selected domains. Later, we
use this tool to calculate the average temperature, but it can also be used to
calculate average electric potential, current density, and so forth.
6 Select File > Save As to save the model with the new name, busbar_III.mph.
7 To run the sweep, right-click Study 1 and select Compute or click Compute
in the Home tab.

172 |
P ARAMETRIC S WEEP R ESULTS
Click the Temperature (ht) 1 node (the second
temperature plot node) located under Results in the
model tree.
The plot that displays in the Graphics window shows
the temperature in the wider busbar using the last
parameter value, wbb=0.1[m] (10[cm]). Select Zoom
Extents from the Graphics window toolbar so that
you can see the entire plot. The resulting plot is rather
uniform in color, so we need to change the maximum
color range.

1 Under the Temperature (ht) 1 node, click the Volume node .

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2 In the Settings window for Volume,
click Range to expand the section.
Select the Manual color range check
box. Enter 309.5 in the Maximum field
(replace the default).
3 The Temperature (ht) 1 plot is
updated in the Graphics window for
wbb=0.1[m] (10[cm]).

The plot may look a bit different depending on which version you are running.
Compare the wider busbar plot to the temperature for wbb=0.05[m] (5[cm]).
For this purpose, you can reuse one of the previously defined plot groups.
1 In the Model Builder window, click the first Temperature (ht) node .

174 |
2 In the Settings window for
3D Plot Group, select
Study 1/Parametric Solutions
1 from the Dataset list. This
dataset contains the results
from the parametric sweep.
3 In the Parameter value list,
select 0.05 (which
represents wbb=5 cm). Click
the Plot button . Click the
Zoom Extents button on the Graphics window toolbar.
The Temperature (ht) plot is updated for wbb=0.05[m] (5[cm]). Note that if you
have updated the color range for this plot already, your plot should look similar to
the one below. If not, follow the subsequent steps.

(The plot may include the maximum and minimum points, depending on which
version of the model you started from.) Like the wider busbar, the plot may be
quite uniform in color, so change the maximum color range.
1 Under the first Temperature (ht) node, click the Volume node .
2 In the Settings window for Volume, click Range to expand the section (if it is not
already expanded). Select the Manual color range check box.

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3 Enter 323.25 in the Maximum field (replace the default).
The Temperature (ht) plot is updated in the Graphics window for wbb=0.05[m]
(5[cm]).
Click the first and second Temperature plot nodes to compare the plots in the
Graphics window. The maximum temperature decreases as the width of the
busbar increases from 5 cm to 10 cm.

A DDING M ORE P LOTS

To further analyze these results, you can plot the average temperature for each
width.
1 Right-click Results and add a 1D Plot Group .

2 In the Settings window for the1D Plot Group, select Study 1/Parametric
Solutions 1 from the Dataset list.

176 |
3 In the Model Builder window, right-click 1D Plot Group and add a Global node.

4 In the Settings window for Global under y-Axis Data, click the first row in the
Expressions column and enter aveop1(T). This is the operator that we defined
on page 172 for later use. You use a similar syntax to calculate the average of
other quantities.
You can also use auto-completion by using Ctrl+Space after clicking the
first row or after typing a few characters.

To use a nonlocal coupling operator without solving, you can select the
option Update Solution that is available by right-clicking a Study node.

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5 Click the Plot button and save the busbar_III.mph model with these
additional plots that use the parametric sweep results.

In the plot, the average temperature decreases as the width increases.

P ARAMETERS IN R ESULTS
For greater flexibility, it is possible to define parameters that are only used in the
Results node. Using these parameters does not require resolving the model. The
following example shows how you can animate over a Parameter defined under
Results.
1 Right-click the Results node and select Parameters.

178 |
2 Define a parameter, iso_level, with Expression 309.5[K].

3 Right-click the Results node and add an Isothermal Contours plot, from the Heat
Transfer in Solids branch of Study 1/Solution1. For the Isothermal Contours (ht)
plot group, in the Settings window for the Isosurface plot, change the Entry
method to Levels. For the Levels expression field, type iso_level.

4 In the same Settings window, click Plot.

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5 Generate an Animation by either selecting the Player option in the Animation
menu of the Isothermal Contours (ht) 1 tab on the ribbon, or right-click the
Export node and select Animation > Player.

6 In the Settings window for Animation, change the Sequence type to Result
parameter and select the iso_level parameter. Type 309 for Start and 310 for
Stop. Click the Play button in the Graphics toolbar or the Show Frame button in
the Settings window for Animation. To get a smoother animation, change the
Number of frames to a higher number; for example, 50.

The subject of parametric sweeps raises the question of parallel computing; it

would be efficient if all parameters were solved simultaneously.

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Parallel Computing

COMSOL Multiphysics and COMSOL Server support most forms of parallel

computing, including shared-memory parallelism for multicore processors and
high-performance computing (HPC) for clusters and clouds. All COMSOL
licenses are multicore enabled. For cluster or cloud computing, including
parallelized sweeps, a Floating Network License (FNL) is needed.
You can use clusters or clouds with one of two options: Cluster Sweep or Cluster
Computing. If you have an FNL, these two options are available by right-clicking
the Study node. However, you first need to enable the Batch and Cluster study
options by clicking the Show More Options button on the Model Builder toolbar
and selecting Batch and Cluster in the Show More Options dialog box.

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C LUSTER S WEEP
The Cluster Sweep option is used for solving several models in parallel where each
model has a different set of parameters. This can be seen as a generalization of
Parametric Sweep. Right-click the Study node to add a Cluster Sweep node.

The Study Settings for Cluster Sweep are similar to that of Parametric Sweep, but
additional settings are required for the cluster or cloud being used. The picture
above shows how the top of the Settings window for Cluster Sweep would look for
the same sweep as defined in “Parametric Sweeps” on page 169. To add and run
a Cluster Sweep in this case, you would first remove the Parametric Sweep node.

C LUSTER C OMPUTING
You can also utilize a cluster or cloud to solve a single large model using
distributed memory. For maximum performance, the COMSOL software cluster
implementation can utilize shared-memory multicore processing on each node in
combination with the Message Passing Interface (MPI) shared-memory model.
This is also known as hybrid parallelism and brings a major performance boost by
making the most out of the computational power available.
Right-click the Study node to add a Cluster Computing node. A Cluster Computing
node cannot be used in combination with a Cluster Sweep. You will be asked if you
want to remove the Cluster Sweep before proceeding. Select Yes.

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The Settings window for Cluster Computing, shown below, helps to manage the
simulation with settings for the cluster or cloud.

The Settings menu under Cluster computing settings has two options: Preferences
controlled or User controlled. The figure above shows the Preferences controlled
option. For the Preferences controlled option, the settings are defined in the
Preferences dialog box in the File menu.

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For the User controlled option, you choose the type of cluster job you want to
perform from the Scheduler type list.

COMSOL Multiphysics and COMSOL Server support General, Microsoft HPC

Pack, Open Grid Scheduler/ Grid Engine (OGS/GE), SLURM, PBS, IBM
LSF, or Not distributed. The General option is a multipurpose option for Linux
clusters. Additional cluster and scheduler settings, such as Prepend command and
Postpend command, are available in the Preferences window in the File menu.
To learn more about running in parallel, see the Reference Manual.
The Cluster Sweep and Cluster Computing options are only visible if you
have an FNL and have enabled the Batch and Cluster study options.

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C O M S O L M u l t i p h y s i c s C li e n t – S e r v e r

When using COMSOL Multiphysics with an FNL, it is possible to use a client–

server mode of operation to access remote computing resources for solving large
models, while still using the graphics card on a local machine to display graphics.
This mode of operation should not be confused with the use of Windows
Remote Desktop, and similar technologies, to connect to a COMSOL
Multiphysics session, or the use of the COMSOL Server product for use with
COMSOL applications.
Using the COMSOL Multiphysics client–server mode can have some significant
advantages, since engineering and scientific computing problems involve working
with large amounts of data — anywhere from megabytes to gigabytes of data are
commonly generated during a simulation. To generate and store this data, you
may want to use computers with fast processors, large amounts of Random Access
Memory (RAM), and a large hard drive. To visualize large datasets, it is important
to have a high-end graphics card on your local computer.
Under ideal conditions, you would always be working on a high-end computer
with more than enough memory and processing power for all of the simulation
steps. If this is not the case and you need to solve larger models, you may instead
access a shared computing resource across a network.
At any time while using COMSOL Multiphysics, it is possible to connect to a
remote computing resource via the client–server mode of operation. This is a
two-step process. First, log onto the remote system and invoke the COMSOL
Multiphysics server, which will start the COMSOL Multiphysics server process
and open a network connection. Second, on the local machine, simply enter the
network connection information into an open session of COMSOL Multiphysics.
The software then transparently streams the model data and results back and forth
over the network and uses the remote computing resource for all computations.
There are several ways to start a COMSOL Multiphysics server session. In
Windows 10, you can start a server session from the COMSOL Launchers option
from the Windows start menu.

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In Linux, you can use the comsol mphserver command. The server and client
sessions can be run on different operating systems. For example, the server can run
in Linux and the client session in Windows.
The first time you start a COMSOL Multiphysics server on a computer, you are
asked for a username and password that are associated with the client–server mode
of operation and stored for future connections. The figure below shows the
command window for starting a server session in Windows.

The figure below shows how to connect to a server session from the COMSOL
Desktop user interface. From the File menu, select COMSOL Multiphysics Server >
Connect to Server to connect.

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You are now prompted for the username and password that you gave the first time
you started a server session.

For more information on running the COMSOL Multiphysics client–server, see

the Reference Manual.

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Using the Model Manager

This section gives a brief introduction to using the Model Manager for simulation
data management. The Model Manager allows users to collaborate and centrally
organize models and apps and provides tools for version control, efficient storage,
searching for MPH-file contents, and more. A database can either be stored locally
on your computer for personal use, or, if you have an FNL, accessed remotely
from a server for collaborative use. You will learn how to create a local Model
Manager database, store simulation data, and control versions.
For detailed information on using the Model Manager, see the book Model
Manager Reference Manual.

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Creating a Local Database

Assuming you have not already created a local database, this is how you create one
in order to get started using the Model Manager.
In the File menu, the Open and Save As menu items let you open and save files to
a local or shared file system. The Open From and Save To menu items also let you
open and save to a Model Manager database.
1 From the File menu, select Open From.

2 In the Open window, choose Add Database in the list of options.

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3 In the Add Database window, choose New Local Database .

4 In the New Local Database window, type Modeling Example as the name for the
new database in the Name field. You can choose a more suitable name if you
intend to keep using this database.

5 Click Add Database.

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A progress window is displayed, informing you that the database is being created
on the file system.

Once finished, the Open window is shown with the newly created database selected
in the list.

6 From the Open window, you can search the database for models to open. At the
moment, your database is empty. Click Cancel.

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Version Control

M ODEL W IZARD S ETUP

For the purpose of demonstrating using the Model Manager, we will revisit the
wrench model “Example 1: Structural Analysis of a Wrench” on page 38 and start
anew from the Model Wizard.
1 From the File menu, select New. In the New window, choose Model Wizard.
2 In the Select Space Dimension window, select 3D.
3 In Select Physics, select Structural Mechanics > Solid Mechanics (solid) . Click
Add. Click Study to continue.
4 Click Stationary under Preset Studies. Click Done once finished.

S AVING A F IRST V ERSION

Place your new model under version control by saving it to your database.
1 From the File menu, select Save To.
2 In the Save window, choose your newly created database, Modeling Example,
from the list of options.
The Save window updates with the selected database set as the target for the
save. The header reads Save new as the model is not yet present in the database.
3 Type 3D stationary solid mechanics in the empty Title field.

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4 You can type an optional comment describing what you are saving in the
Comments field. Type Setup for a 3D solid mechanics model using a
stationary study.

5 Click the Save button ( ).

A first version of the model is now saved in the Modeling Example database.
Click the root node in the Model Builder window. The Title field in the Presentation
section of the Settings window has been updated with the title you gave when
saving.

S AVING A DDITIONAL V ERSIONS

The model uses a geometry that was previously created and stored in the
COMSOL native CAD format mphbin.
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Geometry 1 and select Import .
2 In the Settings window for Import, from the Source list, select the COMSOL
Multiphysics file.
3 Click Browse and locate the file wrench.mphbin in the applications folder of
the COMSOL installation folder. Its default location in Windows is
C:\Program Files\COMSOL\COMSOL62\Multiphysics\applications\
COMSOL_Multiphysics\Structural_Mechanics\wrench.mphbin

Double-click to add, or click Open.

4 Click Import to display the geometry in the Graphics window.
5 Select Geometry 1 and click the Build All button in the Settings window.
With the geometry imported to the model, save a second version:

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1 From the File menu, select Save as Version.

The Save window opens with your database preselected in the list of options.

The header reads Save version, as the model already exists in the database. The
title is the same as when saving the first version.

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2 In the Title field, change the title to Structural analysis of a wrench and type
Added a geometry for a wrench in the Comments field.

3 Click the Save button.

You now have two versions of the model saved in your database.
For the purpose of demonstrating multiple versions, we will make a small change
to the model and save another version by adding a description to the model. This
will be the third version.
1 Click the root node in the Model Builder window.
2 In the Description field under the Presentation section, type Analysis of the
mechanical stress level in a wrench.
3 From the File menu, select Save as Version.

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4 Type Added a description. in the Comments field. Click Save.

T HE V ERSIONS W INDOW
Up to this point, you have saved three versions of the model in the database.

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1 From the Windows menu in the Layout section of the Home tab, select
Versions to open the Versions window.

2 You will see the three versions in a table in chronological order, with the most
recent version in the first row and the oldest version in the last row. The first
row in the table is highlighted in bold to indicate that it is the current version
in the COMSOL Desktop.

O PENING O LDER V ERSIONS

You can easily open an older version from the Versions window.

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1 Select the last row in the table and click the Open button in the toolbar. You
can also double-click the row. Select No if you are asked to save any unsaved
changes.

The first version is opened in the COMSOL Desktop. In this version, there is
no Import node under the Geometry 1 node, and the Description field is
empty.
2 Select the middle row in the table and click Open .
The second version is opened in the COMSOL Desktop. In this version, the
Import node is now present under the Geometry node, but the Description field
is still empty.
3 Select the first row in the table and click Open .
The third, and latest, version is opened in the COMSOL Desktop.

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W o r k i n g w i t h a D r a ft o f t h e M o d e l

It may have crossed your mind that saving a new model version requires several
steps — especially compared to just pressing Ctrl+S for a model opened from the
file system. You need to open the Save window, think of a comment describing
your changes (although the comment is not required), and then click the Save
button . You might even realize after saving multiple versions that your
modeling work has gone in the wrong direction. You would then have a version
history cluttered with unwanted versions.
A more lightweight option when working on a model is to save a draft of the
model. You can save multiple versions of this draft without affecting the original
model. Once you are happy with your draft, you can save it as a new version of the
original model. You may of course choose to discard your draft altogether and
instead go back to the original model and, perhaps, start a new draft.

S TARTING A N EW D RAFT
Let’s continue working with the wrench model but now using drafts. Make sure
that you have opened the latest (first-row) version in the Versions window.
Add a generic steel material for the wrench and save your work as a new draft.
1 Right-click Component 1>Materials and select Add Material from Library .
2 In the Add Material window, click to expand the Built-In folder. Scroll down to
find Structural steel, right-click, and select Add to Component 1.
3 Close the Add Material window.

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4 From the File menu, select Save Draft. You can also use the keyboard
shortcut Ctrl+S.

You have now created a first version of a draft of the model. You can see this draft
version as a new row in the table in the Versions window above the three versions
of the original model. The draft version uses a separate pen icon ( ) to
distinguish it from the regular versions ( ). Note that the regular versions
belong to the original model, not the draft itself — they are included in the table
to make it easier for you to track where the draft originated from.

S AVING A DDITIONAL D RAFT V ERSIONS

Just like in “Example 1: Structural Analysis of a Wrench” on page 38, now specify
the load applied to the wrench and save your draft changes.

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1 Select Parameters 1 in the Model Builder window.
2 In the Settings window’s Parameters table, enter these settings:
- In the Name column, enter F.
- In the Expression column, enter 150[N].
- In the Description column, enter Applied force.
3 From the File menu, select Save Draft.

Selecting Save Draft a second time creates a second version of your draft — the
Versions window now contains two draft versions and three regular versions.
Just as for the regular versions of the original model, you can inspect an older draft
version by selecting the row in the table and clicking Open .
A draft is a model in its own right in the database — existing side-by-side with the
original model. You can switch back and forth between them in the COMSOL
Desktop simply by opening one or the other.
1 From the File menu, select Open From ( ).
2 In the Open window, choose your database, Modeling Example, in the list of
options.
The Open window shows a list containing the latest version of the draft ( ) and
the latest version of the original model ( ).

3 Select the version of the original model ( ) and click the Open button .
The Model Manager detects that there is a draft of the original model in
progress that corresponds to a draft version that is newer than the latest version

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 of the model. A dialog box appears, in which you can choose to open that newer
draft version instead.

4 Select the top node in the tree and click Open to open the original model. The
latest version of the model is opened in the COMSOL Desktop — neither the
Structural steel node nor the Parameters settings is present in the model, as
expected.
You could, at this point, continue working with the original model, thereby
implicitly discarding your draft work. The draft itself can be manually deleted from
the database at some later time.
Assume that choose to continue with your draft. Open the latest version again:
1 From the File menu, select Open From .
2 In the Open window, choose your database in the list of options.
3 Select the draft version ( ) and click Open .
Finish the component setup by defining boundary conditions and mesh settings:
1 Right-click Solid Mechanics (solid) and select Fixed Constraints .

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2 In the Graphics window, rotate the geometry and select the front surface of the
partially modeled bolt. The Boundary number in the Selection list is 35.

3 Right-click Solid Mechanics (solid) once more and select Boundary Load .
4 Select the top socket face (boundary 111) in the Graphics window.

5 In the Settings window for Boundary Load, under Force, select Total force as the
Load type and enter -F in the text field for the z component.
6 Select Mesh 1 . In the Settings window for Mesh, under Physics-Controlled
Mesh, select Finer from the Element size list.
7 Click the Build All button in the Settings window.

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With the basic setup finished, select Save Draft to save a third draft version.

F INISHING Y OUR D RAFT

With the component setup finished, you can save your draft work back to the
original model:
1 From the File menu, select Save as Version.
The Save window opens with your database preselected in the list. The header
reads Save version from draft as a new version of the original model that will be
saved from the draft.
2 Type Finished model for the von Mises stress in a steel wrench in the
Comments field.

3 Click the Save button .

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Open the Versions window to see that all draft versions are now gone from the
table. Instead, there is a fourth version of the original model and the draft itself
has been deleted.

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Comparing Versions

You can see all changes made to the model when you save it from your draft.
1 Right-click the second row in the table in the Versions window and select
Compare ( ).
The Comparison Result window is opened with a comparison between the
current model in the COMSOL Desktop and the selected version.
2 The expanded tree shows, for example, the force parameter, the steel material,
the mesh settings, and the two boundary conditions added from your draft.

You can also compare two older versions with each other:
1 Select the second and third rows in the Versions window, using Ctrl+click, then
right-click either one, and select Compare .
The Comparison Result window is updated with a comparison between these two
versions.

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2 Expand the tree and select the Attributes differ child node. In the Comparing
values table, you will find the description you added in the third model version.

3 Close the Comparison Result window.

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Excluding Built, Computed, and Plotted Data

Let’s now run the study. First, make sure you have the latest version of the model
opened:
1 In the Versions window, double-click the first row.
2 Right-click Study 1 and select Compute to solve the model. When the
computation finishes after a few seconds, the von Mises stress is displayed in a
default Volume plot in the Graphics window.
Storing simulation data generated by a model can require large amounts of disk
space. For such data that is reproducible — such as built, computed, and plotted
data — it may be undesirable, or even impossible due to sheer size, to save it in
the database. To control which data is saved in the database:
1 Select the root node in the Model Builder window.
2 In the Settings window, in the Save section under Built, computed, and plotted
data, in the In database list, select Exclude.

Note that by using the On file list menu, you can also exclude built,
computed, and plotted data when saving to the file system.

3 From the File menu, select Save as Version.

The Save window opens for your database with the message Built, computed, and
plotted data is excluded from the save under Information.

4 Type Saved without generated simulation data. in the Comments field.

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5 Click Save .
The model remains in its solved state in the COMSOL Desktop after the save. Go
to the File menu, select Revert to Saved, and click Yes in the dialog box that
appears. The latest saved version without the solution is opened. You can
reproduce the lost (by now) solution by right-clicking Study 1 and selecting
Compute .

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I m p o r t i n g A u x i l i a r y D at a t o t h e D a t a b a s e

You may have noticed that, while the model is version-controlled in the database,
the same is not true for the CAD input file. You can import the file to the database
as follows:
1 From the Windows menu in the Layout section on the Home toolbar, select
Auxiliary Data to open the Auxiliary Data window.
The Auxiliary Data window shows the input files used in the model. In this case,
a single row is shown, corresponding to the CAD file that is used in the Import
node.

2 Select the table row, right-click on either row, and select Import to Database .
3 The Import dialog box shows the file wrench.mphbin in a table.

4 Click OK.

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Select the Import node in the Model Builder window. The Filename field in the
Import section in the Settings window now shows a reference to the file that is
uploaded to the database.

Finish by saving the model to the database:

1 From the File menu, select Save as Version.
2 Type Referenced CAD file from database. in the Comments field. Click Save
.

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The Model Manager Work space

This concludes this quick introduction to the Model Manager. For detailed
information on using the Model Manager, see the book Model Manager
Reference Manual.
You are encouraged to further explore the Model Manager in the Model Manager
workspace. This is a dedicated workspace in the COMSOL Desktop for tasks
related to using the Model Manager.
To open the Model Manager workspace, click the Model Manager button in the
Workspace section of the Home toolbar. In the Model Manager workspace, you will
see the Model Manager toolbar as well as various windows belonging to the
workspace. The latest versions of your model and CAD file are displayed.

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To learn more about what you can do in the workspace, you can, for example:
• Select the model and expand the model tree in the Content section of the
Settings window. Here, you can browse the content of a model without
opening it.
• Search for your model by applying various Item and Contents Filters. Examples
include a Physics filter for finding a Solid Mechanics interface ( ) or a
Parameter filter for the applied force 150[N].
• Right-click the model and select References () to see the database
relationship between the model and the CAD file in the References window.
• Right-click the CAD file and select Versions ( ) to see all versions of the
file — currently only one — in the Versions window.
• Right-click the model and select Commits ( ) to open the Commits window.
Double-click the third table row from the top. You will see details on the
commit in which a new version of the original model was saved from your
draft, and the draft itself was deleted.
In order to more easily test the various features of the Model Manager, you can
download a demo database by selecting, from the File menu, Help > Download
Demo Database for Model Manager.

This demo database contains models and associated files from the Application
Libraries.

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Appendix A — Building a Geometry

This section details how to create the busbar geometry using the built-in geometry
tools in COMSOL Multiphysics. The step-by-step instructions take you through
the construction of the geometry using the parameters set up in the Global
Definitions section.
All geometry operations under the geometry node in the model tree are organized
in a parametric sequence of operations called a geometry sequence. Using
parameterized dimensions helps to produce what-if analyses and geometric
parametric sweeps.
As an alternative to building the geometry using the tools available in COMSOL
Multiphysics, you can import a geometry created with CAD software. The
optional CAD Import Module and Design Module support many CAD file
formats. Moreover, several add-on products are available that provide
bidirectional interfaces to common CAD software packages. See “Appendix E —
Connecting with LiveLink™ Add-Ons” on page 263 for a list. Note that the
Design Module, in addition to the features available in the CAD Import Module,
adds functionality for dimensions and constraints. The Design Module also
includes additional 3D geometry modeling operations such as loft, fillet, chamfer,
midsurface, and thicken.
If you have not done so already, start with “Example 2: The Busbar — A
Multiphysics Model” on page 75. Follow the steps in the section “Model Wizard”
on page 39 to add the physics and study and then follow the steps under Global
Definitions to add the parameters, which are then used in the remainder of this
section. Return to this section to learn about geometry modeling.
Alternatively, load the model
busbar_geom from the Application
Libraries tree under COMSOL
Multiphysics > Multiphysics. Then, in
the model tree, right-click the
Geometry node and select Clear
Sequence. This deletes all geometry
operations from the model tree.
The first step in the geometry
sequence is to draw the profile of the
busbar.

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1 Under Component 1, right-click
Geometry 1 and select Work Plane .
In the Settings window for Work Plane:
- Select xz-plane from the Plane list (the
last option in the list).
- Click the Go to Plane Geometry
button on the toolbar in the
Settings window for Work Plane.
Continue by editing the axis and grid
settings in Work Plane 1.
2 In the Model Builder window, expand
the View 2 node and click Axis .

3 In the Settings window for Axis:

Under Axis:
- In the x minimum and y minimum
fields, enter -0.01.
- In the x maximum and y maximum
fields, enter 0.11.
Under Grid:
- Select the Manual Spacing check box.
- In the x spacing and y spacing fields,
enter 5e-3.
4 Click the Update button on the
toolbar.
Note that the values you type will
automatically adjust slightly after you
click Update to adapt to the screen
aspect ratio.

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You can use interactive drawing to create a geometry using the drawing tools from
the Sketch tab on the ribbon while pointing and clicking in the Graphics window.

You can also right-click the Plane Geometry node under Work Plane 1 to add
geometry objects to the geometry sequence. Note that you can add geometry
objects in the same way from the Work Plane tab on the ribbon. For clarity, this
example will demonstrate the noninteractive way of creating the geometry (not
using the Sketch tab).
In the next few steps, we create a profile of the busbar.
5 In the Model Builder window under Work Plane 1, right-click Plane Geometry
and select Rectangle .
In the Settings window for Rectangle
under Size, enter:
- L+2*tbb in the Width field.
- 0.1 in the Height field.
Click the Build Selected button .

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6 Create a second rectangle. Under
Work Plane 1, right-click Plane
Geometry and select Rectangle .
Under Size, enter:
- L+tbb in the Width field.
- 0.1-tbb in the Height field.
Under Position, enter:
- tbb in the yw field.
Click the Build Selected button .
Use the Boolean Difference operation
to subtract the second rectangle from
the first one.
7 Under Work Plane 1, right-click Plane
Geometry and select Booleans and
Partitions > Difference . In the
Graphics window, click r1 (the larger of the two rectangles) to add it to the
Objects to add list in the Settings window for Difference.
To help select the geometry, you can display geometry labels in the
Graphics window. In the Model Builder window under Geometry 1 >
WorkPlane 1, click the View 2 node. Go to the Settings window for View
and select the Show geometry labels check box.

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8 Click the Difference node. In the
Settings window for Difference, click the
Active selection button to the left of the
Objects to subtract list. Select the
smaller rectangle, r2, by using the
mouse scroll wheel or arrow keys to
cycle through the overlapping
rectangles to first highlight it and then
click on it to select it.
Click Build Selected .
Another way to select r2 in the
Graphics window is to use the Selection
List feature. Go to the Home tab on the
ribbon and select Windows > Selection
List. In the Selection List, click to
highlight r2 (solid). Then, right-click
r2 (solid) in the list and select Add to
Objects to Subtract for Difference to add
it to the Objects to subtract list.
Right-click on the Selection List
window title and select Close.
After building the selected geometry, you should have a backward-facing,
L-shaped profile. Continue by rounding the corners of the L-shaped profile.

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9 Under Work Plane 1, right-click Plane Geometry and select Fillet .
Select point 3 (in the inner-right corner) to add it to the Vertices to fillet list.
There are different ways to add points:
- In the Graphics window, click point 3 to add it to the Vertices to fillet list.
- From the Home tab, select Windows > Selection List. In the Selection List
window, click 3. The corresponding point is highlighted in the Graphics
window. Click the Add to Active Selection for Fillet button in the Settings
window for Fillet or right-click in the Selection List.

10Enter tbb in the Radius field. Click Build Selected .

This creates a fillet at the inner corner.

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11For the outer corner, right-click
Plane Geometry and select
Fillet .
12In the Graphics window, click point
6, the outer corner, to add it to the
Vertices to fillet list.
13Enter 2*tbb in the Radius field. Click
Build Selected .

The result should match this figure:

In the Design Module you will find tools available in the Sketch tab for
interactive drawing and dimensioning of fillets and general 2D sketches.

Next, extrude the work plane to create the 3D busbar geometry.

220 |
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Work Plane 1 and select Extrude .
In the Settings window for Extrude, enter wbb in the Distances from Plane table
(replace the default) to extrude to the width of the profile.

The table allows you to enter several values in order to create sandwich
structures with different materials. In this case, only one extruded layer is
needed.
2 Click Build Selected and then click the Zoom Extents button on the Graphics
toolbar. Click the Save button and name the model busbar.mph (if you have
not already done so).

Next, create the titanium bolts by extruding two circles drawn in two work
planes.

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3 In the Model Builder window, right-click Geometry 1 and add a Work Plane .
A Work Plane 2 node is added. In the Settings window for Work Plane, under
Plane Definition, select Face parallel as the Plane type.

4 In the Graphics window, click face 8, as shown in the figure below, to add it to
the Planar face list in the Settings window for Work Plane.
Face 8 is now highlighted in blue and the work plane is positioned on top of the
face.

5 Click the Go to Plane Geometry button to start drawing the first circle
representing the position of the first bolt. Click the Zoom Extents button on
the Graphics toolbar.

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6 Under Work Plane 2, right-click
Plane Geometry and select Circle
.
In the Settings window for Circle:
- Under Size and Shape, in the
Radius field, enter rad_1.
- Under Position, leave the default
xw and yw coordinates (0, 0).
Click Build Selected .

Continue creating the bolt by adding an extrude operation.

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1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Work Plane 2 and select Extrude .
In the Settings window for Extrude, in the first row of the Distances from Plane
table, enter -2*tbb to extrude the circle.

2 Click the Build Selected button to create the cylindrical part of the titanium
bolt that runs through the busbar.

Next, draw the two remaining bolts.

224 |
3 Right-click Geometry 1 and select Work Plane . A Work Plane 3 node is
added. In the Settings window for Work Plane, for Work Plane 3, select Face
parallel as the Plane type.
4 In the Graphics window, click face 4, as shown in the figure, to add it to the
Planar face list in the Settings window for Work Plane.

5 Click the Show Work Plane button on the Settings window for Work Plane and
the Zoom Extents button on the Graphics toolbar to get a better view of the
geometry.
To parameterize the position of the two remaining bolts, add the circles that
form the cross sections of the bolts.

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6 Under Work Plane 3, right-click Plane Geometry and select Circle .
In the Settings window for Circle:
- Under Size and Shape, enter rad_1
in the Radius field.
- Under Position, enter
-L/2+1.5[cm] in the xw field and
-wbb/4 in the yw field.
Click Build Selected .

Copy the circle that you just created

to generate the third bolt in the
busbar.
7 Under Work Plane 3, right-click Plane
Geometry and select Transforms >
Copy .

8 In the Graphics window, click the

circle c1 to select and add the circle
to the Input objects list in the
Settings window for Copy.
9 In the Settings window for Copy
under Displacement, enter wbb/2 in
the yw field.

226 |
10Click Build Selected and click the Zoom Extents button on the Graphics
toolbar.
Your geometry, as shown in the work plane, should match this figure so far.

Continue by extruding the circles.

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11In the Model Builder window, right-click Work Plane 3 and select Extrude .
In the Settings window for Extrude, in the first row of the Distances from Plane
table, enter -2*tbb (replace the default). Click Build All Objects .

The geometry and geometry sequence should match the figures below. Click
the Save button and name the model busbar.mph.

228 |
C r e a t i n g P a r t s a n d U s i n g the Pa rt Libra rie s

After setting up the busbar or other geometry model, it is convenient to be able

to save it for future use, hence avoiding unnecessary work. In the steps you have
just completed, the geometry was stored directly in the COMSOL model file that
will also be used to set up the complete busbar model. Instead, you can also create
a reusable and parameterized part that can serve as a building block of a more
complex COMSOL model geometry, which is stored in a separate file accessible
through the Part Libraries.
While building the busbar geometry, you were using features from the Geometry
and Workplane tabs. A Parts ribbon section is located in these tabs.

From the Parts ribbon section, you can choose to create or load a part, or add a
part to the model geometry by selecting one from the Part Libraries. Several Part
Libraries are already provided with the software by default. When new parts are
created, they are added under a part’s parent node in the Global Definitions section
of the model tree. To add a part from a library, you can also right-click the
Geometry node and select Parts > Part Libraries.

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The figure below shows an Internal Helical Gear part from the part library of the
Multibody Dynamics Module. The part comes with 18 Input Parameters that
control the dimensions.

For additional information on working with parts and the Part Libraries, see the
Reference Manual.
To continue with the busbar tutorial, return to the section “Materials” on
page 89.

230 |
Appendix B — Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts

These shortcuts are applicable to the Model Builder, Application Builder, Model
Manager, and the Graphics window.

K EYBOARD S HORTCUTS

SHORTCUT (WINDOWS, LINUX) SHORTCUT (MACOS) ACTION

F1 (Fn+F1 on certain tablets) F1 Open the Help window if needed

and display context-sensitive help for
the selected node or window.
Ctrl+F1 Command+F1 Open the COMSOL
Documentation front page in an
external window.
F2 F2 Rename the selected node, file, or
folder.
F3 F3 Disable selected nodes.
F4 F4 Enable selected nodes.
F5 F5 Update solution with respect to new
definitions without re-solving the
model. Update reduced model data.
Also, on Windows, to continue in
the Method Editor’s debugging tool
in the Application Builder.
F6 F6 Build the preceding node in the
Geometry branch or plot the
previous plot for a time-dependent,
eigenfrequency, or eigenvalue
solution.
Also, on Windows, to step in the
Method Editor’s debugging tool in
the Application Builder,

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SHORTCUT (WINDOWS, LINUX) SHORTCUT (MACOS) ACTION

F7 F7 Build the selected node in the

geometry and mesh branches,
compute the selected study step,
compute the selected node in the
solver sequence, or plot the next
plot for a time-dependent,
eigenfrequency, or eigenvalue
solution.
Also, on Windows, to step into in
the Method Editor’s debugging tool
in the Application Builder.
F8 F8 Build the geometry, build the mesh,
compute the entire solver sequence,
update results data, update the plot,
write a report or presentation, or
run a method or method call.
Also, on Windows, to create an
executable or an add-in in the
Application Builder.
F9 On Windows, check syntax for a
method in the Application Builder.
Del Del Delete selected nodes, objects, or
rows in a table.
Escape (Esc) Escape (Esc) Cancel ongoing interactive 2D
drawing and 3D clipping operations.
Left arrow (Windows); Left arrow Collapse a branch in the model tree.
Shift+Left arrow (Linux)
Right arrow (Windows); Right arrow Expand a branch in the model tree.
Shift+Right arrow (Linux)
Up arrow Up arrow Move to the node above in the
Model Builder. Highlight the next
entity for a 3D geometry in the
Graphics window when it has focus.
Down arrow Down arrow Move to the node below in the
Model Builder. Highlight the previous
entity for a 3D geometry in the
Graphics window when it has focus.

232 |
SHORTCUT (WINDOWS, LINUX) SHORTCUT (MACOS) ACTION

Alt+numbers See comment For the Windows version only: run

the corresponding Quick Access
Toolbar command if a number is
pressed above the character
keyboard; otherwise, insert the
corresponding ASCII character
(requires use of the numeric keypad
on Windows). To enter special
ASCII characters on macOS, you
can change to a specific Unicode
Hex Input keyboard layout.
Alt+Left arrow Ctrl+Left arrow Move to the previously selected
node in the model tree.
Alt+Right arrow Ctrl+Right arrow Move to the next selected node in
the model tree.
Ctrl+A Command+A Select all domains, boundaries,
edges, or points; Select all cells in a
table.
Ctrl+B Not available Enable and remove breakpoint, for
use in the Application Builder.
Ctrl+Shift+B Not available Enable and disable breakpoint, for
use in the Application Builder.
Ctrl+C Command+C Copy text in fields. Copy images in
graphics and plot windows. Copy
tree nodes.
Ctrl+D Command+D Clear the selection of all domains,
boundaries, edges, or points in the
Model Builder. Clear all selections in
Form Editor windows.
Ctrl+Shift+D Command+Shift+D Duplicate the selected node in the
model tree.
Ctrl+F Command+F Find a search string.
Ctrl+Shift-F Command+Shift+F Find a search string in a method.
Ctrl+G Command+G Group nodes.
Ctrl+Shift+G Command+Shift+G Ungroup nodes.
Ctrl+K Create, use, or rename a shortcut to
a model tree node (for use in the
Application Builder).
Ctrl+L Command+L Take a quick image snapshot.

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SHORTCUT (WINDOWS, LINUX) SHORTCUT (MACOS) ACTION

Ctrl+N Command+N New model.

Ctrl+O Command+O Open a model file from the file
system.
Ctrl+Shift+O Command+Shift+O Open a model file from a Model
Manager database or file system.
Ctrl+P Command+P Print the contents of the plot
window.
Ctrl+S Command+S Save a model file to the file system.
Ctrl+Shift+S Command+Shift+S Save a model file to a Model
Manager database or file system.
Ctrl+V Command+V Paste copied text or object.
Ctrl+X Command+X Cut copied text or object.
Ctrl+Y Ctrl+Shift+Z Redo the last undone operation.
Ctrl+Z Command+Z Undo the last operation.
Ctrl++ Ctrl key and plus key: Zoom in, in
form editors, method editors, and
the Main Window editing window,
in the Application Builder..
Ctrl+- Ctrl key and minus key: Zoom out,
in form editors, method editors, and
the Main Window editing window,
in the Application Builder.
Ctrl+0 Reset zoom to 100% in form
editors, method editors, and the
Main Window editing window, in
the Application Builder.
Ctrl+Alt+0 Zoom to fit the available space in
form editors and the Main Window
editing window, in the Application
Builder.
Ctrl+1 Create a local variable or correct the
type of an existing variable in
methods.
Ctrl+7 Toggle comments on and off in
methods.

234 |
SHORTCUT (WINDOWS, LINUX) SHORTCUT (MACOS) ACTION

Ctrl+Up arrow Command+Up arrow Move a definitions node, geometry

node, physics node (except default
nodes), material node, mesh node,
study step node, or results node up
one step.
Ctrl+Down arrow Command+Down Move a definitions node, geometry
arrow node, physics node (except default
nodes), material node, mesh node,
study step node, or results node
down one step.
Ctrl+Space Ctrl+Space In text fields for expressions: to get
access to lists of special operators,
variables, prefixes, functions, and
other expressions. In methods in the
Application Builder: for code
completion.
Ctrl+Tab Ctrl+Tab Switch focus to the next window on
the desktop.
Ctrl+Shift+Tab Ctrl+Shift+Tab Switch focus to the previous
window on the desktop.
Ctrl+Shift+A Switch to the Application Builder
workspace from the Model Builder
or Model Manager.
Ctrl+Shift+J Switch to the Model Manager
workspace from the Model Builder
or Application Builder.
Ctrl+Shift+M Switch to the Model Builder
workspace from the Application
Builder or Model Manager.
Ctrl+Alt+Left arrow Command+Alt+Left Switch focus to the Model Builder
arrow window.
Ctrl+Alt+Right arrow Command+Alt+Right Switch focus to the Settings window.
arrow
Ctrl+Alt+Up arrow Command+Alt+Up Switch focus to the previous section
arrow in the Settings window.
Ctrl+Alt+Down arrow Command+Alt+ Switch focus to the next section in
Down arrow the Settings window.
Ctrl+F4 Command+W Close the active window in
COMSOL Desktop, if it is closable.

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SHORTCUT (WINDOWS, LINUX) SHORTCUT (MACOS) ACTION

Ctrl+F8 Test an application.

Ctrl+Alt+Left arrow Command+Alt+Left Switch focus to the Model Builder
arrow window.
Ctrl+Alt+Right arrow Command+Alt+Right Switch focus to the Settings window.
arrow
Ctrl+Alt+Up arrow Command+Alt+Up Switch focus to the previous section
arrow in the Settings window.
Ctrl+Alt+Down arrow Command+Alt+ Switch focus to the next section in
Down arrow the Settings window.
Shift+F10 or Ctrl+F10 Open the context menu.
(Windows only) Menu key
Ctrl+Pause Command+. Stop running a method when test
(Command + period) running applications.
Ctrl+Space or Ctrl+/ Ctrl+Space Open list of predefined quantities
for insertion in Expression fields.
R R Toggle between automatic and
manual rotation center for mouse
rotation in 3D.
+ or - keyboard button, or + or - keyboard Cycle between geometric entities in
Up arrow or Down arrow button, or 3D (domains, boundaries, edges,
button Up arrow or Down points) for selection when the focus
arrow button is in the Graphics window.
+, - +, - Highlight the next or previous entity
for a 3D geometry in the Graphics
window. Expand or collapse a
branch in the Model Builder.
Multiply key Alt+Right arrow Expand selected part of a tree.
Divide key Alt+Left arrow Collapse selected part of a tree.
Shift+Divide key Alt+Shift+Left arrow Collapse other parts of a tree.
Page Up or Page Down Page Up or Page Move up or down in a window in
Down the COMSOL Desktop
environment.

236 |
M OUSE S HORTCUTS

SHORTCUT (WINDOWS, LINUX) SHORTCUT (MACOS) ACTION

Left-click and hold down the Same as for Windows Rotate the scene around the axes
mouse button while dragging parallel to the screen’s x- and y-axes
the mouse. with the origin at the scene rotation
point.
Right-click and hold down the Same as for Windows Move the visible frame on the image
mouse button while dragging plane in any direction (pan).
the mouse.
Middle-click and hold down the Same as for Windows The scene is zoomed in/out around
mouse button while dragging the mouse position where the
the mouse. action started.
Press Ctrl and use the scroll Same as for Windows The scene is zoomed in or out
wheel. around the mouse position where
the action started.
Middle-click and use the scroll Same as for Windows The scene is zoomed in/out around
wheel. the mouse position where the
action started with, but with
somewhat larger steps.
Press Ctrl and left-click. While Same as for Windows Tilt and pan the camera by rotating
holding down the key and about the x- and y-axes in the image
button, drag the mouse. plane.
Press Ctrl and right-click. While Same as for Windows Move the camera in the plane
holding down the key and parallel to the image plane.
button, drag the mouse.
Press Ctrl and middle-click. Same as for Windows Move the camera into and away
While holding down the key from the object (dolly in or out).
and button, drag the mouse.
Press Ctrl and middle-click. Same as for Windows Zoom to the area around the point
on the model determined by the
mouse position.
Press Ctrl+Alt and left-click. Same as for Windows Rotate the objects in the scene
While holding down the keys around the camera look-at direction.
and button, drag the mouse.
Press Alt and left-click. While Same as for Windows. Rotate the objects in the scene
holding down the key and around the axis that intersects the
button, drag the mouse. camera origin and the scene’s
rotation center (roll direction).

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SHORTCUT (WINDOWS, LINUX) SHORTCUT (MACOS) ACTION

Press Alt and right-click. While Same as for Windows Move the scene in the plane
holding down the key and orthogonal to the axis between the
button, drag the mouse. camera and the scene rotation
point.
Press Alt and middle-click. Same as for Windows Move the camera along the axis
While holding down the key between the camera and the scene
and button, drag the mouse. rotation point.
Middle-click on model. Same as for Windows Set the center of rotation.
Press X, Y, or Z and left-click. Same as for Windows Rotate around the X, Y, or Z-axis,
While holding down the key respectively.
and button, drag the mouse.
R R Toggle between manual and
automatic rotation center.
+ or - keyboard button, or + or - keyboard Cycle between 3D geometric
Up arrow or Down arrow button, or entities (domains, boundaries, edges,
button. Up arrow or Down points) for selection. When focus is
arrow button in the Graphics window.

238 |
Appendix C — Language Elements and Reserved Names

Building a model tree in COMSOL Multiphysics is equivalent to graphically

programming a sequence of operations. Using the Record Code functionality in
the Application Builder or saving as a model file for MATLAB or Java® records
and saves the sequence of operations as a list of traditional programming
statements. In this section, we will give an overview of the following element
categories as defined by the underlying COMSOL language:
• Constants
• Variables
• Functions
• Operators
• Expressions

These language elements are built in or user defined. Operators cannot be user
defined. Expressions are always user defined.

A BOUT R ESERVED N AMES

Built-in elements have reserved names, names that cannot be redefined by the
user. If you try to use a reserved name for a user-defined variable, parameter, or
function, the text where you enter the name will get a yellow squiggly underline
and you will get a tooltip message if you hover over the text string. Reserved
function names are reserved only for function names, which means that such
names can be used for variable and parameter names and vice versa. In the
following pages, we list the most commonly used built-in elements and hence
those reserved names. A more exhaustive list of built-in elements can be found in
the Programming Reference Manual and the Application Programming
Guide.

V ARIABLES USED IN A PPLICATIONS

Model parameters and variables can be used in applications. For example, you can
let the user of an application change the value of a parameter. In addition, variables
to be used in applications can be defined in the Application Builder under the
Declarations node. Such variables are available globally in form objects and
methods but cannot be used in the Model Builder.

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Constants and Parameters

There are three different types of constants accessible from the Model Builder:
built-in mathematical and numerical constants, built-in physical constants, and
parameters. Parameters are user-defined constants, which can vary over parameter
sweeps. Constants are scalar valued. The tables below list the built-in
mathematical and numerical constants as well as built-in physical constants.
Constants and parameters can have units.

B UILT - IN M ATHEMATICAL AND N UMERICAL C ONSTANTS

DESCRIPTION NAME VALUE

Floating-point relative accuracy for double eps 2-52 (~2.2204·10-16)

floating-point numbers, also known as
machine epsilon
The imaginary unit i, j i, sqrt(-1)
Infinity,  inf, Inf A value larger than what
can be handled with
floating-point
representation
Not-a-number NaN, nan An undefined or
unrepresentable value,
such as the result of 0/0
or inf/inf
 pi 3.141592653589793

240 |
B UILT - IN P HYSICAL C ONSTANTS

DESCRIPTION NAME VALUE

Acceleration of gravity g_const 9.80665[m/s^2]

Avogadro constant N_A_const 6.02214076e23[1/mol]
Bohr radius a0_const 4*pi*epsilon0_const*hbar_const^2
/(me_const*e_const^2)
Boltzmann constant k_B_const 1.380649e-23[J/K]
Characteristic impedance Z0_const 376.73031346177066[ohm]
of vacuum (impedance of
free space)
Electron mass me_const 9.10938291e-31[kg]
Elementary charge e_const 1.602176634e-19[C]
Faraday constant F_const 96485.3365[C/mol]
Fine-structure constant alpha_const 7.29735298e-3
Gravitational constant G_const 6.67384e-11[m^3/(kg*s^2)]
Molar volume of ideal gas V_m_const 2.2413968e-2[m^3/mol]
(at 273.15 K and 1 atm)
Neutron mass mn_const 1.674927351e-27[kg]
Permeability of vacuum mu0_const 2*alpha_const*h_const/c_const/e_
(magnetic constant) const/e_const

Permittivity of vacuum epsilon0_const 1/mu0_const/c_const/c_const

(electric constant)
Planck’s constant h_const 6.62607015e-34[J*s]
Planck’s constant over 2 pi hbar_const 1.05457172533629e-34[J*s]
Proton mass mp_const 1.672621777e-27[kg]
Speed of light in vacuum c_const 299792458[m/s]
Stefan–Boltzmann sigma_const 5.670373e-8[W/(m^2*K^4)]
constant
Universal gas constant R_const 8.3144621[J/(mol*K)]
Wien’s displacement law b_const 2.8977721e-3[m*K]
constant

P ARAMETERS
Parameters are user-defined constant scalars in the Global Definitions branch in the
model tree. Example uses are:
• Parameterizing geometric dimensions

| 241
• Parameterizing mesh element sizes
• Defining parameters to be used in parametric sweeps

A parameter can be defined as an expression in terms of numbers, parameters,

built-in constants, and built-in functions of parameters and built-in constants.
Parameters should be assigned a unit, using [], unless they are dimensionless.

Variables

There are two types of variables used in the Model Builder: built-in variables and
user-defined variables. Variables can be scalars or fields. Variables can have units.
Note: Spatial coordinate variables and dependent variables are user-defined
variables of special interest. These variables have default names based on the space
dimension of the geometry and the physics interface, respectively. As a result of
the names chosen for these variables, a list of built-in variables will be created by
COMSOL Multiphysics: the first- and second-order derivatives with respect to
space and time. The following table contains some of the most important built-in
variables. For a complete list, see the Reference Manual.

242 |
B UILT - IN V ARIABLES

NAME DESCRIPTION TYPE

curv The curvature of a boundary in 2D Field
curv1,curv2 The principal curvature components of a Field
boundary in 3D
dom The domain number for a domain, boundary, Field
edge, or point
dvol Volume scale factor variable; This is the Field
determinant of the Jacobian matrix for the
mapping from local (element) coordinates to
global coordinates.
freq Frequency Global
variable
geomapproxdist For each element, this variable indicates how far a Field
node point in each element was moved from the
geometry.
h Mesh element size (length of the longest edge of Field
the element)
hinscribed Element inscribed diameter Field
lambda Eigenvalue Global
variable
linearizedelem Elements forced to be linear Field
numberofdofs Number of degrees of freedom Global
variable
meshelement Mesh element number, per type Field
meshelementall Mesh element number Field
meshtype Mesh type index for the mesh element; This is the Field
number of edges in the element.
meshvol Volume of the (linearized) element Field
nx,ny,nz,dnx,dny,dnz,un Normal components for the boundary surface Field
x,uny,unz normal vector. Down and up normal components
in the x-direction are dnx and unx, respectively,
and similarly for the y- and z-directions.
phase Phase angle Global
variable

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qual, qualcondition, Mesh quality measures Field
qualcurvedskewness,
qualgrowth,
qualmaxangle,
qualskewness,
qualvollength
realdetjac The determinant of the Jacobian matrix for the Field
mapping from a straight mesh element to the
possibly curved element used when solving. Use
this variable to measure the difference in shape
between a curved element and the
corresponding straight element.
realdetjacmin A scalar field variable for each element defined as Field
the minimum value of the reldetjac variable
for the corresponding element.
A reldetjacmin value less than zero for an
element means that the element is wrapped
inside-out; that is, the element is an inverted
mesh element.
s,s1,s2 Curve and surface parameterization variables Field
t Time Global
variable
tcurvx,tcurvy,tcurv1x, Tangential directions for the corresponding Field
curv1y,tcurv1z,tcurv2x, curvature variables
tcurv2y,tcurv2z
tx,ty,t1x,t1y,t1z, Tangent vector components corresponding to the Field
t2x,t2y,t2z curve and surface parameterizations
qual A mesh quality measure between 0 (poor quality) Field
and 1 (perfect quality)

U SER - DEFINED V ARIABLES T HAT G ENERATE B UILT - IN V ARIABLES

DEFAULT NAME DESCRIPTION TYPE

x, y, z Spatial coordinates (Cartesian) Field
r, phi, z Spatial coordinates (Cylindrical) Field
u, T, etc. Dependent variables (Solution) Field

Example: T is the name for the temperature in a 2D, time-dependent heat transfer
model; x and y are the spatial coordinate names. In this case, the following built-in
variables will be generated: T, Tx, Ty, Txx, Txy, Tyx, Tyy, Tt, Txt, Tyt, Txxt, Txyt,
Tyxt, Tyyt, Ttt, Txtt, Tytt, Txxtt, Txytt, Tyxtt, and Tyytt. Here, Tx corresponds
to the partial derivative of the temperature T with respect to x, Ttt corresponds to

244 |
 the second-order time derivative of T, and so on. If the spatial coordinate variables
have other names — for example, psi and chi — then Txy would be Tpsichi, and
Txt would be Tpsit. (The time variable t is built in; the user cannot change its
name.)

Functio n s

In the Model Builder, there are two types of functions: built-in and user-defined.
Functions can be scalar valued or field valued depending on the input
argument(s). Some functions can have units for both input and output arguments.

B UILT - IN M ATHEMATICAL F UNCTIONS

These functions do not have units for their input or output arguments.

NAME DESCRIPTION SYNTAX EXAMPLE

abs Absolute value abs(x)
acos Inverse cosine (in radians) acos(x)
acosh Inverse hyperbolic cosine acosh(x)
acot Inverse cotangent (in radians) acot(x)
acoth Inverse hyperbolic cotangent acoth(x)
acsc Inverse cosecant (in radians) acsc(x)
acsch Inverse hyperbolic cosecant acsch(x)
arg Phase angle (in radians) arg(x)
asec Inverse secant (in radians) asec(x)
asech Inverse hyperbolic secant asech(x)
asin Inverse sine (in radians) asin(x)
asinh Inverse hyperbolic sine asinh(x)
atan Inverse tangent (in radians) atan(x)
atan2 Four-quadrant inverse tangent (in radians) atan2(y,x)
atanh Inverse hyperbolic tangent atanh(x)
besselj Bessel function of the first kind besselj(a,x)
bessely Bessel function of the second kind bessely(a,x)
besseli Modified Bessel function of the first kind besseli(a,x)
besselk Modified Bessel function of the second kind besselk(a,x)
binomial Binomial coefficients binomial(n,k)

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NAME DESCRIPTION SYNTAX EXAMPLE
ceil Nearest following integer ceil(x)
conj Complex conjugate conj(x)
cos Cosine cos(x)
cosh Hyperbolic cosine cosh(x)
cot Cotangent cot(x)
coth Hyperbolic cotangent coth(x)
csc Cosecant csc(x)
csch Hyperbolic cosecant csch(x)
erf Error function erf(x)
erfinv Inverse error function erfinv(x)
exp Exponential exp(x)
factorial Factorial of nonnegative integer factorial(n)
floor Nearest previous integer floor(x)
gamma Gamma function gamma(x)
gcd Greatest common divisor gcd(a,b)
imag Imaginary part imag(u)
lcm Least common multiple lcm(a,b)
legendre Legendre polynomials legendre(l,x)
legendre Associated Legendre functions legendre(l,m,x)
log Natural logarithm log(x)
log10 Base-10 logarithm log10(x)
log2 Base-2 logarithm log2(x)
max Maximum of two arguments max(a,b)
min Minimum of two arguments min(a,b)
mod Modulo operator mod(a,b)
poweps Power for use with derivatives of poweps(x,n)
expressions that need to be evaluated near
zero
psi Psi function and its derivatives psi(x,k)
random Random function, uniform distribution random(x,y,...)
randomnormal Random function, normal distribution randomnormal(x,y,...)
range Create a range of numbers range(a,step,b)
real Real part real(u)

246 |
NAME DESCRIPTION SYNTAX EXAMPLE
round Round to closest integer round(x), round(x,p)
sec Secant sec(x)
sech Hyperbolic secant sech(x)
sign Signum function sign(u)
sin Sine sin(x)
sinh Hyperbolic sine sinh(x)
sphericaly Spherical harmonic function sphericaly(l,m,theta,phi)
sphericalyr Real spherical harmonic function sphericalyr(l,m,theta,phi)
sqrt Square root sqrt(x)
sqrteps Square root for use with expressions that sqrteps(x)
need to be evaluated near zero
tan Tangent tan(x)
tanh Hyperbolic tangent tanh(x)
zernike Zernike polynomials zernike(n,m,r,phi)

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B UILT - IN O PERATOR F UNCTIONS
These built-in functions behave differently than the built-in mathematical
functions. They may not belong in an introductory text but are listed to complete
the list of reserved names. For more information, see the Reference Manual.

NAME NAME NAME NAME

adj depends lintotal side
at dest lintotalavg sphavg
atlocal dflux lintotalpeak sphint
atonly diskavg lintotalrms stddev
at0 diskint linzero subst
at1 down mean substval
at2 dtang nif sum
at3 elemavg nojac test
atent0 elemgpmax noenv timeavg
atent1 elemgpmin novar timeint
atent2 elemint noxd timemax
atent3 emetric patcheval timemin
atpmax env pd treatasconst
atpmin error pint try_catch
attimemax frame.dt pmax uflux
attimemin fsens pmin up
atxd fsensimag ppr var
atxd0 gpeval pprint with
atxd1 if prev withparam
atxd2 integrate psum withsol
atxd3 isdefined reacf
ballavg islinear realdot
ballint isnan residual
bdf jacdepends scope.atenti
bndenv laginterp scope.ati
centroid lindev sens
circavg linper setconst
circint linpoint setind
circumcenter isinf setval
d linsol shapeorder

U SER -D EFINED F UNCTIONS

A user-defined function can be defined in the model tree under the Global
Definitions node or, for each Component, under the Definitions node. Select a

248 |
template from the Functions menu and enter settings to define the name and
detailed shape of the function.

TEMPLATE NAME ARGUMENTS AND DEFINITION SYNTAX EXAMPLE

Analytic The function name is its identifier; The name of the function with
for example, an1. comma-separated arguments within
The function is a mathematical parentheses. For example:
expression of its arguments. an1(x,y)
Example: Given the arguments x
and y, its definition is
sin(x)*cos(y).
The function has an arbitrary
number of arguments.
Interpolation The function name is its identifier; The name of the function with
for example, int1. comma-separated arguments within
An interpolation function is defined parentheses. For example:
by a table or file containing the int1(x,y,z)
values of the function in discrete
points.
The file formats are the following:
spreadsheet, grid, or sectionwise.
The function has one to three
arguments.
Piecewise The function name is its identifier; The name of the function with a
for example, pw1. single argument within parentheses.
A piecewise function is created by For example:
splicing together several functions, pw1(x)
each defined on one interval. Define
the argument, extrapolation and
smoothing methods, and the
functions and their intervals.
This function has one argument with
different definitions on different
intervals, which must not overlap or
have any holes between them.

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TEMPLATE NAME ARGUMENTS AND DEFINITION SYNTAX EXAMPLE

Gaussian Pulse The function name is its identifier; The name of the function with a
for example, gp1. single argument within parentheses.
The Gaussian pulse function defines For example:
a bell-shaped curve according to the gp1(x)
expression
– x – x0 
2
-----------------------
-
1 2
2

y  x  = --------------- e
 2

It is defined by the mean parameter,

x0, and the standard deviation, .
The function has one argument.
Ramp The function name is its identifier; The name of the function with a
for example, rm1. single argument within parentheses.
A ramp function is a linear increase For example:
with a user-defined slope that begins rm1(x)
at some specified time.
The function has one argument. It
can also be smoothed.
Rectangle The function name is its identifier; The name of the function with a
for example, rect1. single argument within parentheses.
A rectangle function is 1 in an For example:
interval and 0 everywhere else. rect1(x)
The function has one argument.
Step The function name is its identifier; The name of the function with a
for example, step1. single argument within parentheses.
A step function is a sharp transition For example:
from 0 to some other value step1(x)
(amplitude) at some location.
The function has one argument. It
can also be smoothed.
Triangle The function name is its identifier; The name of the function with a
for example, tri1. single argument within parentheses.
A triangle function is a linear For example:
increase and linear decline within an tri1(x)
interval and 0 everywhere else.
The function has one argument. It
can also be smoothed.

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TEMPLATE NAME ARGUMENTS AND DEFINITION SYNTAX EXAMPLE

Waveform The function name is its identifier; The name of the function with a
for example, wv1. single argument within parentheses.
A waveform function is a periodic For example:
function with one of several wv1(x)
characteristic shapes: sawtooth, sine,
square, or triangle.
The function has one argument. It
can also be smoothed.
Normal The function name is its identifier; The name of the function with a
Distribution for example, nd1. single argument within parentheses.
Defines the probability density For example:
function, cumulative distribution nd1(x), nd1_cum(x), and
function, and quantile function for a nd1_cum_inv(x)
normal distribution.
Random The function name is its identifier; The name of the function with
for example, rn1. comma-separated arguments within
A random function generates white parentheses. For example:
noise with uniform or normal rn1(x,y)
distribution and has one or more The arguments x and y are used as
arguments for simulating white random seeds for the random
noise. function.
The function has arbitrary number
of arguments.
External (Global An external function defines an The name of the function and the
Definitions only) interface to one or more functions appropriate number of arguments
written in the C language (which within parentheses. For example:
can be a wrapper function myextfunc(a,b)
interfacing source code written in,
for example, Fortran). Such an
external function can be used, for
example, to interface a user-created
shared library. Note that the
extension of a shared library file
depends on the platform: .dll
(Windows), .so (Linux), or .dylib
(macOS).

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TEMPLATE NAME ARGUMENTS AND DEFINITION SYNTAX EXAMPLE

MATLAB® A MATLAB® function interfaces The name of the function and the
(Global with one or more functions written appropriate number of arguments
Definitions only) in the MATLAB® language. Such within parentheses. For example:
functions can be used as any other mymatlabfunc(a,b)
function defined in COMSOL
Multiphysics®, provided that
LiveLink™ for MATLAB® and
MATLAB® are installed. (MATLAB®
functions are evaluated by
MATLAB® at runtime.)
Elevation The function name is its identifier, The name of the function with
for example, elev1. comma-separated arguments within
Used to import geospatial elevation parentheses. For example:
data from digital elevation models elev1(x,y)
and map the elevation data to a
function of x and y. A DEM file
contains elevation data for a portion
of the Earth’s surface. The resulting
function behaves essentially like a
grid-based interpolation function.
Image The function name is its identifier, The name of the function with
for example, im1. comma-separated arguments within
Used to import an image (in BMP, parentheses. For example:
JPEG, PNG, or GIF format) and map im1(x,y)
the image’s RGB data to a scalar
(single-channel) function output
value. By default, the function’s
output uses the mapping
(R+G+B)/3.
Least-Squares Fit The function name is its identifier, The name of the function with
for example, lsq1_fun1. comma-separated arguments within
Used for least-squares function parentheses. For example:
approximation. Defines a lsq1_fun1(x1,x2)
least-squares fit of one or more
parameterized functions with
respect to the input data. The input
data can be a file, a local table, or a
results table.

252 |
TEMPLATE NAME ARGUMENTS AND DEFINITION SYNTAX EXAMPLE

Gaussian Process The function name is its identifier, The name of the function with
for example, gpm1. comma-separated arguments within
Used for multidimensional parentheses. For example:
interpolation and surrogate model gpm1(x1,x2)
training. Defines one or more
functions trained on input data
through a Gaussian process
regression method. The input data
can be a file or a result table.
Note: Training a Gaussian
Process function requires the
Uncertainty Quantification Module.
Using a model that already contains
a trained Gaussian Process
function does not require any
add-on products.
Polynomial The function name is its identifier, The name of the function with
Chaos for example, pce1. comma-separated arguments within
Expansion Used for multidimensional parentheses. For example:
interpolation and surrogate model pce1(x1,x2)
training. Defines one or more
functions trained on input data
through a Polynomial Chaos
Expansion method. The input data
can be a file or a result table.
Note: Training a Polynomial
Chaos Expansion function
requires the Uncertainty
Quantification Module. Using a
model that already contains a
trained Polynomial Chaos
Expansion function does not
require any add-on products.
Deep Neural The function name is its identifier, The name of the function with
Network for example, dnn1. comma-separated arguments within
Used for multidimensional parentheses. For example:
interpolation and surrogate model dnn1(x1,x2)
training. Defines one or more
functions trained on input data
through a Deep Neural
Network method. The input data
can be a file or a result table.

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TEMPLATE NAME ARGUMENTS AND DEFINITION SYNTAX EXAMPLE

Partial Fraction The function name is its identifier, The name of the function with a
Fit for example, pff1. single argument within parentheses.
Used for rational approximation of For example:
frequency-domain responses. This pff1(x)
approximation makes it possible to
compute its inverse Fourier
transform analytically and thus
obtain the time-domain impulse
response function.
The input data can be a file or a
result table. The output is complex
valued.
Function Switch The function name is its identifier, Switch is a container node for
for example, sw1. functions.
A switch is used to switch between
global functions during a solver
sweep. You add the functions as
subnodes under the Switch node.
The switch for functions acts
essentially as a switch statement in a
programming language; that is, it
dynamically chooses one of its
underlying branches depending on a
parameter that can be controlled
from the solvers using a Function
Sweep study. You can also add a
Switch node under Materials and
then use a Material Sweep to
sweep over a discrete set of
materials.

Unar y and Bina ry Ope ra t ors

In the Model Builder, the following table contains the unary and binary operators
that can be used in expressions.

PRECEDENCE LEVEL SYMBOL DESCRIPTION

1 () {} . Grouping, Lists, Scope

2 ^ Power
3 ! - + Unary: Logical NOT, Minus, Plus

254 |
 PRECEDENCE LEVEL SYMBOL DESCRIPTION

4 [] Unit
5 * / Multiplication, Division
6 + - Binary: Addition, Subtraction
7 < <= > >= Comparisons: Less-Than, Less-Than or
Equal, More-Than, More-Than or Equal
8 == != Comparisons: Equal, Not Equal
9 && Logical AND
10 || Logical OR
11 , Element Separator in Lists

Ex pre ss i ons

P ARAMETERS
A parameter expression can contain: numbers, parameters, built-in constants,
built-in functions of parameter expressions, and unary and binary operators.
Parameters can have units.

V ARIABLES
A variable expression can contain: numbers, parameters, constants, variables,
functions of variable expressions, and unary and binary operators. Variables can
have units.

F UNCTIONS
A function definition can contain: input arguments, numbers, parameters,
constants, functions of parameter expressions, including input arguments, unary
and binary operators.

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Appendix D — File Formats

COMSOL File Formats

The COMSOL Model MPH-file type, with the extension .mph, is the default file
type containing the entire model tree and application tree from the Model Builder
and Application Builder, respectively. The file contains both binary and text data.
The mesh and solution data is stored as binary data, while all other information is
stored as plain text.
The COMSOL binary and text file types, with the extension .mphbin and .mphtxt,
respectively, contain either geometry objects or mesh objects that can be imported
directly to the Geometry or Mesh nodes in the model tree. Note that if the CAD
Import Module, Design Module, or one of the LiveLink™ add-on products for
CAD was used to create a geometry model, then the same product may be
required to open the corresponding file. This is because the geometry model may
require features that are only available in one of the add-on products.
The Physics Builder file type, with the extension .mphphb, contains one or more
user-defined physics interfaces that you can access from the Model Builder. See the
Physics Builder Manual for more information.
See Supported External File Formats for more information about all the other
formats supported by COMSOL Multiphysics.

FILE TYPE EXTENSION IMPORT EXPORT

COMSOL Model and Application .mph Yes Yes

COMSOL Binary Data .mphbin Yes Yes
Physics Builder .mphphb Yes Yes
COMSOL Text Data .mphtxt Yes Yes

Supported External File Formats

CAD
The CAD Import Module and Design Module allow for the import of a range of
industry-standard CAD file types. Additional file types are available through the

256 |
bidirectional functionality of the LiveLink products for CAD as well as with the
File Import for CATIA® V5 add-on.
The DXF (2D), VRML (3D), STL (3D), PLY (3D), and 3MF (3D) file types are
available for import with COMSOL Multiphysics and do not require any add-on
products. Unless noted otherwise in the table below, import of the listed file types
is available on all supported versions of Linux®, macOS, and Windows® operating
systems.

FILE TYPE EXTENSION IMPORT EXPORT

®1,2,3
AutoCAD .dwg Yes Yes9
Inventor®1,2,3 .ipt,.iam Yes Yes9
®1,4 .prt
NX Yes No
1,3
PTC Creo Parametric™ .prt,.asm Yes Yes9
Revit® 3,5 .rvt Yes9 Yes9
Solid Edge®3,6 .par,.asm Yes9 Yes9
®1,3,4
SOLIDWORKS .sldprt,.sldasm Yes Yes9
DXF (3D1,2 and 2D) .dxf Yes Yes10
Parasolid®1 .x_t,.xmt_txt,.x_b,.xmt_bin Yes Yes
®1 .sat,.sab,.asat,.asab
ACIS Yes Yes
STEP1 .step,.stp Yes Yes
IGES1 .iges,.igs Yes Yes
CATIA V52,7
® .CATPart,.CATProduct Yes No
VRML, v18 .vrml,.wrl Yes No
STL .stl Yes Yes
3MF .3mf Yes No

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FILE TYPE EXTENSION IMPORT EXPORT

PLY .ply Yes No

1
Requires one of the LiveLink™ products for AutoCAD , PTC Creo Parametric™, Inventor®,
®

Revit®, Solid Edge®, SOLIDWORKS®, the CAD Import Module, or the Design Module
2
Import supported on Windows® operating systems only
3Synchronization of files between COMSOL Multiphysics and a linked CAD program
supported on Windows® operating systems only
4
Import supported on Windows® and Linux operating systems only
5
Requires LiveLink™ for Revit®
6Requires LiveLink™ for Solid Edge®
7
Requires the CAD Import Module (or the Design Module or one of the LiveLink™ products
for AutoCAD®, Inventor®, PTC Creo Parametric™, Revit®, Solid Edge®, or SOLIDWORKS®)
and the File Import for CATIA® V5
8Limited to a single geometric domain
9
From/To file using linked CAD package, provided the original CAD geometry is created in the
CAD package
10
Writing to file is supported for 2D geometry only

ECAD
The ECAD Import Module allows for import of 2D layout files with automatic
conversion to 3D CAD models. The Touchstone file type is used for exporting
S-parameters, impedance, and admittance values from simultaneous port and
frequency sweeps. The SPICE Circuit Netlist file type is converted at import to a
series of lumped circuit element nodes under an Electrical Circuit node.

FILE TYPE EXTENSION IMPORT EXPORT

1 .cvg,.xml
IPC-2581 Yes No
1 .zip,.tar,.tgz,.tar.gz
ODB++ Yes No
GDS1 .gds Yes No
2 .s2p,.s3p,.s4p,...
Touchstone No Yes
3 .cir
SPICE Circuit Netlist Yes Yes
1
Requires the ECAD Import Module
2Requires either the AC/DC Module, RF Module, MEMS Module, or Wave Optics Module
3
Requires either the AC/DC Module, RF Module, MEMS Module, Plasma Module, or
Semiconductor Module

258 |
M ATERIAL D ATABASES
From the Materials node, in the model tree, you can import material data on the
MPH-file format as well as on a COMSOL-native XML format. You can also
export material data on the COMSOL-native XML format. When importing
material data from an MPH-file, only the material contents of the file are
considered. For exporting material data on the MPH-file format, you simply save
the MPH-file using the options on the File menu.
The Chemical Reaction Engineering Module and the Plasma Module can read
CHEMKIN® files for simulating complex chemical reactions in the gas phase. The
Plasma Module can read LXCAT files for sets of electron-impact collision cross
sections. The Metal Processing Module import material properties from the
software JMatPro®.

FILE TYPE EXTENSION IMPORT EXPORT

COMSOL Model and Application .mph Yes Yes

COMSOL Model XML .xml Yes Yes
3
CHEMKIN®1 .dat,.txt,.inp Yes No
1 n/a
CAPE-OPEN (direct connection) n/a n/a
2 .lxcat,.txt
LXCAT file Yes No
®4 .xml
JMatPro Yes No
1
Requires the Chemical Reaction Engineering Module or the Plasma Module. The Plasma
Module only supports thermodynamic and transport data.
2
Requires the Plasma Module.
3
Any extension is allowed; these are the most common extensions.
4Requires the Metal Processing Module.

M ESH
The NASTRAN® Bulk Data file types are used to import a volumetric mesh. The
VRML, STL, PLY, and 3MF file types are used to import a triangular surface mesh
that can serve as a starting point for creating a volumetric mesh.

FILE TYPE EXTENSION IMPORT EXPORT

3MF .3mf Yes Yes

® .nas,.bdf,.nastran,.dat
NASTRAN Bulk Data Yes Yes
PLY .ply Yes Yes
COMSOL Sectionwise .txt,.csv,.dat Yes Yes
STL .stl Yes Yes

| 259
FILE TYPE EXTENSION IMPORT EXPORT

VRML, v1 .vrml,.wrl Yes No

VTK .vtu No Yes

I MAGES , M OVIES , AND A UDIO

Results visualization can be exported to a number of common image file types; See
the table below. Images can also be read and used as interpolation functions for
physics modeling. Animations can be exported to one of the Animated GIF, AVI,
and WebM file types. The 3D representation from a 3D plot can be exported to
the glTF™ format for 3D scene exchange. Audio files can be imported and
exported on the WAVE Audio File format.

FILE TYPE EXTENSION IMPORT EXPORT

Animated GIF .gif No Yes

AVI1 .avi No Yes
BMP .bmp Yes Yes
EPS (1D graphs only) .eps No Yes
GIF .gif Yes Yes
glTF™ .glb No Yes
JPEG .jpg,.jpeg Yes Yes
MP4 .mp4 Yes2 No
OGV .ogv Yes2 No
PNG .png Yes Yes
TIFF .tif,.tiff No Yes
WAVE .wav Yes Yes
WEBM .webm Yes2 Yes
1Available for Windows® only
2Available in the Application Builder, for Windows® only, in the video form object

P ROGRAMMING L ANGUAGES AND S PREADSHEET

Model files for Java®
are editable files with the extension .java that contain
sequences of COMSOL commands as Java® code. Edit the files in a text editor to
add additional commands. You can compile these Java® files into Java® Class files
with the extension .class and run them as separate applications. Program code
used in model files for Java® is essentially identical to that of the Method Editor
in the Application Builder. However, the Method Editor comes with an integrated
Java® compiler.

260 |
Model files for MATLAB® are editable script files (M-files), similar to the model
files for Java®, for use with MATLAB®. These model files, which have the
extension .m, contain a sequence of COMSOL commands as a MATLAB® M-file.
You can run the model files in MATLAB® like any other M-file scripts. It is also
possible to edit the files in a text editor to include additional COMSOL
commands or general MATLAB® commands. Running model files in the M-file
format requires LiveLink™ for MATLAB®.
With a license for LiveLink™ for Excel®, you can save models on the Visual Basic
for Applications (VBA) format for use with Excel®.
Compiled C-code can be linked with a model or application in several ways
including the External Material and External Function interfaces in the Model
Builder and as the External Library interface in the Application Builder.

FILE TYPE EXTENSION IMPORT EXPORT

MATLAB®: Model file for MATLAB® .m No Yes

MATLAB®: Function1 .m Yes No
6
Java®: Archive file .jar Yes No
® ® .class
Java : Compiled model file for Java Yes No
® ® .java
Java : Model file for Java No Yes
3 4 5
C: Function .dll ,.so ,.dylib Yes No
3 4
Fortran7: Function .dll ,.so Yes No
®2 .xlsx,.vba
Excel Yes Yes
1Requires LiveLink™ for MATLAB®
2
Requires LiveLink™ for Excel®, available for Windows® only
3 ®
Available for Windows only
4Available for Linux® only
5
Available for macOS only
6
Can be linked to a method in an application using the Application Builder
7Requires a C-wrapper to the Fortran code and to include the C-code DLL as an External C
Library in the Application Builder. Alternatively, you can include a Fortran DLL directly as an
External C Library in the Application Builder. Note: You need to consider the naming
convention for exported Fortran function names. For example, in Windows®, it is typically
required that Fortran function names are in uppercase.

N UMERICAL AND I NTERPOLATION D ATA F ORMATS

The grid, sectionwise, and spreadsheet file types can be read for defining
interpolation functions. Furthermore, the sectionwise and spreadsheet file types
can be read and used for defining interpolation curves and written for exporting
results. In addition, tables can be copied and pasted on the spreadsheet format.

| 261
Parameters and variables can be imported and exported to the plain text,
comma-separated values, or data file types.
The continuous and discrete color table text file types are used for user-defined
color tables for results visualization.
Digital elevation model (DEM) files can be read and used as a parametric surface
for defining a geometry.

FILE TYPE EXTENSION IMPORT EXPORT

Copy and paste spreadsheet format n/a Yes Yes

Excel® spreadsheet1 .xlsx Yes Yes
Table .txt,.csv,.dat Yes Yes
Grid .txt Yes Yes
Sectionwise .txt,.csv,.dat Yes Yes
Spreadsheet .txt,.csv,.dat Yes Yes
Parameters .txt,.csv,.dat Yes Yes
Variables .txt,.csv,.dat Yes Yes
Continuous and Discrete color table .txt Yes No
Point data for Cut Point datasets .txt Yes No
DEM .dem Yes No
VTK .vtu No Yes
1Requires LiveLink™ for Excel®, available for Windows® only

262 |
Appendix E — Connecting with LiveLink ™ Add-Ons

The following table shows the options to start COMSOL and the different linked
partner software using the LiveLink™ add-on products.

COMSOL® Can Start COMSOL Can Start Partner Software Can Connect
Software from Partner Software from COMSOL Running Sessions
LiveLink™ Yes1 Yes2 No
®
for Excel

LiveLink™ Yes3 Yes5 Yes5

for MATLAB®

LiveLink™ No Yes6 No
for Simulink®

LiveLink™ No No Yes
for AutoCad®

LiveLink™ No No Yes
for Revit®

LiveLink™ No No Yes
for PTC®Creo®
Parametric™

LiveLink™
for Inventor®

- Bidirectional No No Yes
Mode
- One Window Yes No No
Mode
LiveLink™ No No Yes
for Solid Edge®

LiveLink™ No No Yes
for SOLIDWORKS®

1
When you open a model from Excel®, a model window starts and a link is established
automatically. The model window is an output window that displays geometry, mesh, and results.
2
A model that includes a table reference to an Excel® spreadsheet automatically starts an Excel®
process in the background when the model is run in the COMSOL Desktop environment.
3
You can start a COMSOL Multiphysics server from a MATLAB® session using the system
command and then connect to it using mphstart in the MATLAB® command prompt.
4
The COMSOL Multiphysics with MATLAB® desktop shortcut starts a COMSOL Multiphysics
server and MATLAB®, then connects them automatically. When you run a COMSOL Multiphysics

| 263
model in the COMSOL Desktop interface that includes a MATLAB® function (Global Definitions
> Functions), a MATLAB® engine and connection is started automatically.
5You can connect a MATLAB® session to a running COMSOL Multiphysics server using the
command mphstart in the MATLAB® command prompt.
6The COMSOL Multiphysics with Simulink® desktop shortcut starts a COMSOL Multiphysics
server and MATLAB®, then connects them automatically. You can then start Simulink® and add a
COMSOL Cosimulation block where you load a cosimulation file to run a cosimulation.

264 |
Index

A AC/DC Module 76, 101 examples 33

accuracy file types 34
convergence analysis 66 MPH-files 10, 33
Add Material window window 35
busbar model 89 Application Library update 35
opening 44, 89 autocompletion
Add Multiphysics parameter and variable names 177
button 102 parameters and variables 83
window 102 average temperature 172
add-in 126
B Basic template 128
add-on modules
Blank form template 129
AC/DC Module 76, 99, 101
blank model, creating 18, 20
Application Libraries 33
boundaries 98
CAD Import Module 214, 256
adding to selection 100
Chemical Reaction Engineering Mod-
variables scope 31
ule 259
boundary condition 96
Design Module 214, 220, 256
automatically defined 50
ECAD Import Module 258
boundary load 49
MEMS Module 146
busbar, setting 96
physics list 40, 78
electric current 96, 99
Plasma Module 259
fixed constraint 48
Structural Mechanics Module 38, 50,
free 47
66
ground, electrical 101
study types 80
heat transfer 96
advanced topics 135
insulating 98
all combinations
material interface 50, 66
parametric sweep 170
settings window 8
analysis
boundary load 49
convergence 66
boundary number, graphics display 52
example, parametric sweep 71
boundary section
animation 24, 180
context menu 97
application 13, 117
boundary selection, busbar model 98
Application Builder 6, 8, 11, 13, 31, 117,
boundary surface normal direction, up
239
and down 53, 243
Application Gallery 35
Browse 42
Application Libraries 17

| 265
 Browse From 42 COMSOL Multiphysics 12
Build All button native CAD format 42
geometry 86 opening 39
meshes 56, 105 COMSOL Server 13
built-in constants
constants, functions, and variables 33 mathematical and physical types 33
materials 44, 89 constraints 214
variables 109 context menu
button object 121 domain and boundary sections 97
Button, Form Objects 123 contextual tab 21
contributing node 154
C CAD files, storing in database 210
convergence analysis 66
CAD Import Module 214, 256
Convergence plot 9, 106
Cancel button 10, 29
cooling
case, parameter 27, 170
air stream 75
chamfer 214
natural convection 81
Chemical Reaction Engineering Module
coupling operator 172
259
Create Selection 32
clip plane 54
button 149
cloud computing 181
custom settings window 126
Cluster Computing node 181, 184
customized desktop 27
cluster job 184
Cluster Sweep node 181, 184 D dark theme 15
color theme 15 datasets, defined 24
coloring default feature 96
materials 93 degrees of freedom 66, 73
selections 93 derivatives 33
command sequence 124, 132 Derived Values 73, 114
Compact MPH-files 34 defined 24
compiler 12 Global Evaluation 72
component coupling 172 Volume Maximum 66, 72, 114
Component node, adding materials 89 Design Module 214, 220, 256
computing studies 71 dimensions 214
COMSOL Client 13 discretize 56
COMSOL Compiler 12 documentation, models 10, 33
COMSOL Desktop environment domain level 97
customizing 27 domain section
on Linux 23 context menu 97
on macOS 23 domains
overview 6 materials 92

266 |
 remove from selection 92 exporting images 115
variables scope 31 expressions
down, surface normal direction 53, 243 Boolean 64
draft, Model Manager 199 manual entry 68, 81
draft, saving as version 204 replacing 64, 109, 112
dynamic help 11, 29 units, specifying 67
user-defined 63
E ECAD Import Module 258
External Process window 9
edges
variables scope 31 F file import 42
Editor Templates window 123 File menu 16
eigenfrequency analysis 24 fillet 214, 220
Electric Currents interface filter
defining boundary conditions 97 Model Builder 37
multiphysics 80, 101 Filter Options menu 37
overview 96 find
electric potential 76 parameters and variables 84
physics node 99 finite element
voltage drop, parameter 81 mesh 56
electrical heating 75 preconditioning 71
empty tetrahedra 56
selection 49 Fixed Constraint node 48
Enable Tooltip 138 Floating Network License 181
environment reflections 93 Form Editor 11, 121
equation form objects 117
built-in 96 form union, geometry 86
user-defined 63 frequency response 25
evaluating frequency-domain study 24
volume maximum 66, 112, 114 functions
von Mises stress 67 advanced topics 136
Evaluation Group 73, 114 built-in 33
automatic re-evaluation 73 mathematical 33
example scope 81
advanced, electrical heating 75 Functions node 81
basic, structural mechanics 38
G geometric dimensions
Excel® 261, 263
parameters, and 10, 26, 229
exclude data, Model Manager 208
parametric sweep 81
exclusive node 153
geometry
executable 12
building 81
Export node 24

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 CAD format 41 overview 96
importing 41 Help window 11
in Application Libraries 85 opening 23
loading from file 81, 85 high performance computing 181
operations 214 Home tab 21
parameterized 10, 26, 81, 85, 229 HPC 181
sequence 214 hybrid parallelism 182
settings window 8
I Image Snapshot button 115
Geometry node 36
images, creating thumbnails 115
Global Definitions node 23, 27
importing
functions 81
file 42
parameters 81
geometry 41
scope 31, 81
information windows 7, 9, 29
variables 30
initial conditions 8
global parameters 27, 46, 69, 81
Initial Values node
expression 26
Electric Currents interface 97
glTF-file format 116
Heat Transfer in Solids interface 97
graphics
Solid Mechanics interface 47
rendering and hardware 14
input fields 119
Graphics menus 22
Input Parameters
graphics object 120, 122, 131
for part 230
Graphics toolbar
Isosurface plot 179
default view button 48, 60, 101, 111
iterative solver
image snapshot button 115
preconditioning 71
zoom extents button 87, 108
J Java file 37, 260
Graphics window 7, 9, 22, 29
Joule heating
geometry, and 42
equations 96
plot 58
multiphysics coupling 101
rotate geometry 48, 107, 108
multiphysics interface 78
selecting boundary 48, 49, 101
toolbar 7 L Laminar Flow interface 158
using 43, 87 Linux
zoom box 49 clusters 184
Ground, boundary condition 100 version 23
grouping LiveLink™ add-ons 263
nodes 30 local database 189
loft 214
H Heat Transfer in Solids interface
Log window 9, 58
defining boundary conditions 97
multiphysics 80, 101 M macOS version 23

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Main Window Editor 11 Message Passing Interface (MPI) 182
Material Browser Messages window 9, 58
defined 10 method 127
material contents section 44, 90 model 31
material color and texture 93 Method Call 127
material interface Method editor 11, 127
mechanical contact 50, 66 M-file 37, 261
material rendering 93 midsurface 214
materials modal tab 21
copper 75 Model Builder 6, 117, 129
domains, assigning 91 defined 11
model tree 36 example 36
settings window 8 expanding sections 97
steel 44, 63 geometry import 41
titanium alloy 75 keyboard shortcuts 236
Materials node 44, 89 node sequence example 47
mathematical constants and functions the ribbon, and 21
33 toolbar 6
MATLAB® 261 window 28
Max/Min Volume plot 68 model history 37
Maximum and minimum values table Model Manager 6, 12, 17, 188
113 draft 199
MEMS Module exclude data 208
thermal expansion, and 146 Open From 189
mesh Save To 189
convergence analysis, and 66 search 213
density 69 Versions window 196
finite element 56 workspace 212
model tree, and 36 model method 31
parameterizing 69, 103 model tree 6, 28
physics-controlled, default 103 building 23
refining 69 defined 81
settings 56 example 36
unstructured tetrahedral 103 geometry 36
user-controlled 69, 103 Global Definitions node 24, 46, 81
mesh element size Materials node 36, 44
parameters, defining 26, 104 Model Builder 11
settings 56 nodes 23
mesh-convergence analysis 73 Results node 24

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 ribbon 21 node groups 30
root node 23 nodes 23
Study node 24, 36 default feature 47
Model Wizard reordering 37
adding physics 24, 40, 78, 192
O Open 16
Component node, and 24
Open From 17
creating a new model 18
Model Manager 189
General Studies 40
OpenGL 14, 94
More Studies 40
Override and Contribution 47, 154
opening 39, 78
P parallel computing 181
preset studies 80, 192
parameter case 27, 170
space dimension 39, 78
parameter switch
study 24, 79
parametric sweep 170
models
parameters 26, 120, 131
defining 11
adding 50
discretization 56
defining 69, 81
documentation 10, 33
displaying value 51
saving 88, 208
editing 50, 86
structural mechanics 38
expression 26, 69
symmetry 108
global 27
workflow 36
meshes, and 69
MPHBIN-file 256
name 69
MPH-file 256
range of values 70
excluding data when saving 208
results 30, 178
full and compact 34
scope 81
saving 88, 116
using, referencing 99
MPHPHB-file 256
Parameters node 81, 136
MPHTXT-file 256
parametric geometry model 214
MPI 182
parametric study 81
multicore processors 181
parametric sweep 26
multiphysics interface 80
all combinations 170
multiphysics models 75
example 70
Multiphysics node 96, 97, 102, 147
meshes, and 69
multiphysics phenomena 75
parameter switch 170
Multislice plot 107
range, defining 70
N New 16
specified combinations 170
New Form wizard 117
part 10, 229
Ribbon buttons tab 132
Input Parameters 230
no solutions stored, message 35

270 |
Part Libraries 229 progress bar 11, 29
physics Progress window 9, 58
adding 78
Q Quick Access Toolbar 6, 8, 22, 28
boundary conditions 96
R Recent 17
electromagnetic heating 78
Record Code 128
heat transfer 78
renaming plot groups 64
Joule heating 75, 96
rendering options 14
laminar flow 158
reports, defined 24
model tree 36
reserved name 33
physics interface 18, 80
Reset Window Layout 132
Electric Currents 80
resizable graphics window 128
Heat Transfer in Solids 80
resolution of curvature, mesh 104
Joule Heating 78
results
Laminar Flow 158
color table range 107, 109
Solid Mechanics 40, 192
derived values 66, 72, 114
Plasma Module 259
displaying 59
player 180
parameters 30, 178
plot
units, changing 59
regenerate after solving 74
Results node
plot group 24
3D plot group 68, 109, 151
3D, adding 63
busbar defaults 107
Plot window 29
subnodes 24
plots
surface node, adding 109, 151
expression, user-defined 63
Revert to Saved 17
max/min volume 68
ribbon 7, 28
model tree 36
Add Material 44, 95, 157
regenerating 68
Build All 86
windows 9
Build Mesh 105
points, variables scope 31
Compute 71, 151, 167
Poisson’s ratio 91
defined 8, 21
polynomial functions 56
example 7
preconditioning 71
importing geometry 41
preferences 14
Model Builder 21
preset studies 80
Physics tab 48, 147
Preview MPH-files 35
Windows 10, 58, 218
principal stress 153
Work Plane 216
program code
Ribbon buttons 132
model file for Java 37
Ribbon buttons tab, New Form wizard
model M-file 37

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 132 selection of geometry objects, domains,
root node boundaries, edges, and points 52
default units 171 Settings Form 127
defined 23 Settings Forms 127
model thumbnails 115 Settings window 6, 8, 23, 28
Model Wizard 39 customized 126
Run Application 16 settings window
running simulations 106 keyboard shortcut 236
shared memory parallelism 181
S Save 17
Show Material Color and Texture 93
Save As 17
Show Selection Colors 93
Save To 17
simulation, running 106
Model Manager 189
Single form template 118, 129
saving files 88, 116
skybox image 94
scheduler
software rendering 14
Grid Engine 184
Solid Mechanics interface 40, 192
IBM LSF 184
add-on modules 146
Microsoft HPC Pack 184
Solved MPH files 34
Open Grid Scheduler 184
solvers
PBS 184
configurations 71
SLURM 184
iterative 70
scope
stationary 58, 71
global definitions 81
using 58
parameters and variables 31
space dimension 18
parameters and variables, defined 26
specified combinations
variable name 32
parametric sweep 170
search
Stationary study 40, 58, 192
parameters and variables 84
steady-state study 24
search, in Model Manager database 213
Streamline Multislice plot 107
Select Study window 20
structural analysis 38
selecting
structural displacement field 56
boundaries 51
structural mechanics
multiple boundaries 149
design 65
using the graphics window context
plastic deformation 63
menus 53
stresses and strains 75, 91
selecting internal surfaces 52
von Mises stress 59
Selection 32, 52, 93
Structural Mechanics Module
empty 49
application library 38
selection 149
mechanical contact 50, 66
Selection List window 10, 218

272 |
 thermal expansion 146 U unit, changing 59, 152
studies up, surface normal direction 53, 243
computing solutions 71, 106 update COMSOL Application Libraries
defining 58 35
example, multigrid iterative 71 Update Solution 177
example, stationary 58 user interface
model tree 36 COMSOL Desktop 6
preset 80 overview 6
types 24 user-controlled mesh 69
Study node 24 V variables
solution sequence 106 advanced topics 136
Suppress Selection Highlight 93 built-in 33
surface normal direction, graphics dis- example, built-in 72
play 52 expression 30
surface normal direction, up and down scope 81
53, 243 scope, limit 31
Surface plot Variables node 30, 81
color table range 110 version
deformation 59 control 192
electrical current density 109 opening 197
replace expression 109 saving 193
settings 64 Versions window, Model Manager 196
updating 108, 109 visualization 9
T table color table 107, 109
Maximum and minimum 113 Volume Maximum, evaluating 66, 112,
Table window 9 114
graph plot 72 Volume plot 107
wrench results 67 von Mises stress 59, 153
Tables node 24 W Window Layout 132
tables, evaluating 72 Windows list 58, 218
temperature 107, 167 wizard
temperature, average 172 New Form 117
Test Application 123, 133 workflow 33
tetrahedron, polynomial functions 56 Workspace 117, 129
thermal expansion 75, 91
Y yield stress 38, 63
thicken 214
Young’s modulus 91
thumbnail image 115
time-dependent study 24 Z zoom 167
torque, applied 38 Zoom Extents command 125

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