Thermal-Structural Interaction

The Thermal Stress Interface included with this module has a predefined one-way coupling for thermal-structure interaction (thermal stress), which combines a Solid Mechanics interface with a Heat Transfer interface from the Heat Transfer Module or COMSOL Multiphysics.

By default, COMSOL Multiphysics takes advantage of the one-way coupling and solves the problem sequentially using the segregated solver. The solution for the temperature is separated from the stress-strain analysis which then uses the computed temperature field from the heat transfer equation.


	Using a single iteration in the segregated solver does not produce a correct result if there are thermal properties that depend on the displacements. Examples are when a heat source causes mechanical losses (damping) in the material or when thermal contact is present.