Thermal-Electric-Structural Interaction
The Joule Heating and Thermal Expansion Interface
enables thermal-electric-structural interaction. This is a combination of three physics interfaces: Solid Mechanics, Heat Transfer in Solids, and Electric Currents.
The thermal-electric coupling is bidirectional, with joule heating and temperature dependent electrical properties, while the temperature coupling to the Solid Mechanics interface is unidirectional.
By default, COMSOL Multiphysics takes advantage of the one-way coupling and solves the problem sequentially using the segregated solver. Temperature and electric potential are solved using a coupled approach and then the stress-strain analysis uses the computed temperature field from the heat transfer equation.
Using a single iteration does not produce a correct result if there are thermal properties or electrical that depend on the displacements, making the thermal-structure part into a two-way coupling.
