Use the Layered Thermal Expansion multiphysics coupling (
) to add an internal thermal strain caused by changes in temperature and account for the corresponding mechanical losses in the heat balance in layered materials represented by boundaries.
The Layered Thermal Expansion node is only available with some COMSOL products (see
http://www.comsol.com/products/specifications/).
The Label is the multiphysics coupling feature name. The default
Label (for the first multiphysics coupling feature in the model) is
Layered Thermal Expansion 1.
The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the coupling node. Refer to such variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to different coupling nodes or physics interfaces, the
name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and underscores (_) are permitted in the
Name field. The first character must be a letter.
The default Name (for the first multiphysics coupling feature in the model) is
tel1.
When nodes are added from the context menu, you can select Manual (the default) from the
Selection list to choose specific boundaries to define the coefficient of thermal expansion and the different temperatures that cause thermal stress, or select
All boundaries as needed.
This section defines the physics involved in the multiphysics coupling. The Heat transfer and
Structure lists include all applicable physics interfaces. The first physics interface of each type in the component is selected as the default.
You can also select None from either list to uncouple the
Layered Thermal Expansion node from a physics interface. If the physics interface is removed from the
Model Builder, for example
Heat Transfer in Shells is deleted, then the
Heat transfer list defaults to
None as there is nothing to couple to.
Select the applicable layers (the default setting is Use all layers) defining the required material properties for the node.
If no layered materials have been included yet, there is a shorthand available for creating a Single Layer Material, a
Layered Material Link, or a
Layered Material Stack (the plus symbol next to the
Layer list).
When a layered material stack or link is selected from the Layer list, unselect the check boxes corresponding to layers where the node should not be applied in the
Selection table.
The Volume reference temperature Tref is the temperature at which there are no thermal strains. As a default, the value is obtained from a
Common model input. You can also select
User defined to enter a value or expression for the temperature locally.
Select an Input type to select how the thermal strain is specified. The default is
Secant coefficient of thermal expansion, in which case the thermal strain is given by
where α is the secant coefficient of thermal expansion.
α can be temperature dependent.
When Input type is
Tangent coefficient of thermal expansion, the thermal strain is given by
where αt is the tangential coefficient of thermal expansion.
When Input type is
Thermal strain, enter the thermal strain
dL as function of temperature explicitly.
In all three cases, the default is to take values From material. When entering data as
User defined, select
Isotropic,
Diagonal or
Symmetric to enter one or more components for a general coefficient of the thermal expansion tensor or the thermal strain tensor. When a nonisotropic input is used, the axis orientations are given by the coordinate system selection in the parent node.
Select Thermoelastic damping to include the reverse coupling where the changes in stress act as a heat source in the heat transfer analysis. Thermoelastic damping is only used when
Structural Transient Behavior is set to
Include inertial terms.
Select Mechanical losses to make any energy dissipation computed in the structural interface act as a heat source in the heat transfer interfaces. Examples of such contributions are work done by plastic deformation, and viscous damping.