Layer and Interface Selection Tools
Almost all physics nodes that you add in the Heat Transfer in Shells interface have either a section named Shell Properties, or a section named Interface Selection. Selections there interact with the standard selections of geometrical objects (boundaries and edges) in order to provide a complete specification of where a material property or boundary condition is to be applied within a layered material.
The physics features can be of two, fundamentally different, types: those who act on the layers themselves, and those who act on the interfaces between layers. The settings for these two types of features are slightly different.
Layer Selections
When a physics feature acts on layers, the interpretations of layer selections are:
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A boundary selection in the geometry corresponds to a domain contribution in the selected layers.
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An edge selection in the geometry corresponds to boundary contributions on the faces of the layers exposed to that edge.
This is illustrated by Figure 5-1 and Figure 5-2, where the patch at the lower left is the actual shell, and the 3D sketch shows an expanded view of what it would represent in the physical world.
Figure 5-1: Boundary selection with layers 2 and 5 selected.
Figure 5-2: Edge selection with layers 2 and 5 selected.
In the Shell Properties section, it is possible to limit the contributions to individually selected layers of the selections made in the Boundary Selection section. For a given Layered Material Link or Layered Material Stack, you get access to a list of check boxes for the selection of the individual layers.
Interface selections
When a physics feature acts on interfaces, the interpretation of interface selections are:
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A boundary selection in the geometry corresponds to boundary contributions on the selected interfaces.
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An edge selection in the geometry corresponds to edge contributions on the interface edges parallel to the selected edge.
This is illustrated by Figure 5-3 and Figure 5-4, where the patch at the lower left is the actual shell, and the 3D sketch shows an expanded view of what it would represent in the physical world.
Figure 5-3: Boundary selection with interfaces ‘layer 2 - layer 3’ and ‘layer 5 up’ selected.
Figure 5-4: Edge selection with interfaces ‘layer 2 - layer 3’ and ‘layer 5 up’ selected.
In the Interface Selection section, it is possible to select the interfaces between layers where the contribution should be added, including the top and bottom interfaces (see Figure 5-5 for the interfaces description). For a given Layered Material Link or Layered Material Stack, you get access to a list of predefined interfaces subsets.
Figure 5-5: Definition of upside and downside settings for a boundary for different configurations, and corresponding interfaces for a layered material.
See Layered Material, Layered Material Link, Layered Material Stack, Layered Material Link (Subnode), and Single-Layer Materials in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.