The Acoustic-Piezoelectric Interaction, Frequency Domain Interface
The Acoustic-Piezoelectric Interaction, Frequency Domain multiphysics interface (), found when adding a physics interface under the Acoustics>Acoustic-Structure Interaction branch (), combines the Pressure Acoustics, Frequency Domain, Solid Mechanics, and Electrostatics interfaces to connect and solve for the acoustic pressure variations in fluids with the structural deformation in both solids and piezoelectric solid domains. The physics interface also includes features from Electrostatics to solve for the electric field in the piezoelectric material. It may be used for modeling piezoelectric transducers for sonar or medical applications and, for example, enhancing the impedance matching layers as well as the far-field radiation patterns of the transducer.
The Helmholtz equation is solved in the fluid domain and the structural equations in the solid together with the constitutive relationships required to model piezoelectrics. Both the direct and inverse piezoelectric effects can be modeled, and the piezoelectric coupling can be formulated using the strain-charge or stress-charge forms.
When a predefined Acoustic-Piezoelectric Interaction, Frequency Domain interface is added from the Acoustics>Acoustic-Structure Interaction branch () of the Model Wizard or the Add Physics windows, the Pressure Acoustics, Frequency Domain, Solid Mechanics, and Electrostatics interfaces are added to the Model Builder.
In addition, the Multiphysics Couplings node is added, which automatically includes the Acoustic-Structure Boundary and Piezoelectric Effect multiphysics couplings.
See The Multiphysics Branch and Multiphysics Modeling Workflow in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.
Piezoacoustic Transducer: Application Library path Acoustics_Module/Piezoelectric_Devices/piezoacoustic_transducer
Settings for Physics Interfaces and Multiphysics Couplings
When the predefined multiphysics interface is used, the Selection on the Acoustic-Structure Boundary multiphysics coupling is automatically set to All boundaries. In this way, the multiphysics coupling is automatically active on all boundaries with Pressure Acoustics, Frequency Domain on one side and Solid Mechanics on the other. Similarly, the Selection on the Piezoelectric Effect multiphysics coupling is automatically set to All domains and active in all valid domains.
However, if physics interfaces are added one at a time, followed by the multiphysics couplings, these modified settings are not automatically included.
For example, if the single interfaces are added, COMSOL Multiphysics adds an empty Multiphysics Couplings node. You can choose the available multiphysics coupling, but you need manually to select on which boundaries or domains they need to be applied, or select All boundaries or All domains to recover the predefined behavior.
Multiphysics couplings are available from the context menu (right-click the Multiphysics Couplings node) or from the Physics toolbar, Multiphysics menu.
Physics Interfaces and Multiphysics Couplings
Multiphysics Couplings
The Acoustic-Structure Boundary multiphysics coupling is described in the Multiphysics Couplings chapter. The Piezoelectric Effect is described for The Piezoelectricity Interface.
Physics Interface Features
Physics nodes are available from the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to access the context menu (all users).
In general, to add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what operating system you are using. Subnodes are available by clicking the parent node and selecting it from the Attributes menu.
The available physics features for The Solid Mechanics Interface that are described in the Structural Mechanics Module User’s Guide.
Theory section in the Structural Mechanics Module User’s Guide
Theory of Electrostatics in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual