The uflux and dflux operators are only applicable to dependent variables defined by physics interfaces that support accurate boundary fluxes.
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adj(expr)
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Apply backward differentiation formula of order i on expression.
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bndenv(expr)
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Evaluate the expression expr at the coordinates of a particle or ray at a boundary.
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centroid(expr)
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Evaluate the expression expr in the centroid of the mesh element to which the point belongs.
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circumcenter(expr)
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Evaluate the expression expr in the circumcenter of the mesh element to which the point belongs.
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dest(expr)
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down(expr)
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Tangential differentiation of an expression f defined on a boundary with respect to a spatial dimension x.
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The square of the length of the global vector (exprx, expry, exprz) computed in the mesh element’s own metric.
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env(expr)
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Evaluate the expression expr at the coordinates of a particle or ray in a domain.
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error(‘string’)
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frame.dt(expr)
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Functional sensitivity with respect to control variable p.
Functional sensitivity with respect to imaginary part of control variable p. |
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isdefined(variable)
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isinf(expr)
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islinear(expr)
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isnan(expr)
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True if the derivative of the expression expr with respect to the solution depends on the solution or var, respectively.
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mean(expr)
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noenv(expr)
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Evaluate an expression expr that is defined only on particles or rays, not the domain or boundary where the particles or rays are located.
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nojac(expr)
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Differentiation operator. Differentiation of f with respect to x. No chain rule for dependent variables.
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Evaluate expression at the ith previous time step.
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residual(expr)
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Evaluate the expression expr at an i-dimensional entity in the point with coordinates given by the coordinate expressions coordinate exprs. For example, comp1.at3 for a 3D entity in a component with the name comp1.
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Define temporary constant in withsol.
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shapeorder(variable)
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side(entity,expr)
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test(expr)
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timeint, timeavg
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timemax, timemin
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treatasconst(expr)
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Treat expr as independent of the solution.
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Evaluate the flux associated to a dependent variable u into the domains on the up and down sides of a boundary, respectively.
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up(expr)
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var(expr,fieldname1, fieldname2, ...)
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When you apply the adjoint sensitivity operator adj to an expression, COMSOL Multiphysics uses the adjoint sensitivity solution instead of the primal solution for the evaluation.
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The at operator can access a solution to a time-dependent problem at any time. COMSOL Multiphysics provides the solution at that time using interpolation. You can use the at operator to compare two solutions at different times during results evaluation; for example, at(30,u)-at(20,u) is the difference between the solution at 30 s and the solution at 20 s.
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The first input argument is the time. The second input argument is the expression that you want to evaluate using this solution. For example, at(12.5,u) is the solution at 12.5 s. The time must be within the simulation time span but does not have to be a specified output time. If it is not, then the at operator uses interpolation to compute the data values at that time.
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You can also use 'first' or 'last' as the first argument to evaluate an expression at the first or last time of the simulation, respectively.
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The at operator can only be used during results evaluation, so it should not be used when setting up the model.
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The atlocal operator takes 2, 3, or 4 arguments depending on the dimension of the geometrical entity it is being evaluated on.
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For example, on a three-dimensional entity, atlocal(xi1,xi2,xi3,expr) evaluates expr at the point with local coordinates (ξ1, ξ2, ξ3) in each mesh element. On a two-dimensional entity the syntax is atlocal(xi1,xi2,expr) and on a one-dimensional entity it is atlocal(xi1,expr).
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The attimemax and attimemin operators evaluate an expression at the time where another expression achieves its maximum or minimum, respectively. attimemax(t1,t2,expr1,expr2) finds the time t0 on the interval t1 ≤ t ≤ t2 where expr1(t) is maximal and computes expr2(t0). The first two arguments must be real constants.
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attimemax(t1,t2,expr1,expr2,'nointerp') and attimemin(t1,t2,expr1,expr2,'nointerp') evaluate the maximum or minimum without doing any interpolation between the stored time steps. This variant might be less accurate but faster and more robust.
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The attimemax and attimemin operators can only be used during results evaluation, so you cannot use then when setting up the model. See timemax and timemin for similar operators.
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The number of arguments is always sdim+1, where sdim is the dimension of the geometry indicated by the scope of the operator.
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The first sdim arguments specify coordinates in this geometry. They must be constant in the current evaluation context.
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The ballint(r, expr) operator computes the volume integral of the expression expr in a ball with radius r around the point in which it is evaluated. The ballint operator can be evaluated on all entities in 3D.
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The circint(r, expr) operator computes the curve integral of the expression expr on a circle with radius r around the point in which it is evaluated. The circint operator can be evaluated on all entities in 2D and on edges in 3D, when used in 3D the integration is done on the circle in the normal plane to the edge.
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The diskint(r, expr) is similar to the circint operator but calculates the surface integral on a disk instead.
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The sphint(r, expr) is similar to the ballint operator but computes the surface integral on a sphere instead.
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All of operators can be used with a third argument N that approximately specifies the number of integration points used — for example, circint(r, expr,100).
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To all operators you can add a suffix (“_frameId”) that specifies the frame in which the integration is done — for example, circint_spatial(r, expr).
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The expression expr may contain the dest operator. The dest operator forces its expression to be evaluated in the center of the sphere or circle. You can use it, for instance, with a sphint operator to write expressions including the sphere’s normal direction.
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Use the bdf operator to approximate time derivatives when the time discrete solver is used.
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The expression bdf(expr, i) results in a discretization of the time derivative of expr using a backward differentiation formula.
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The second argument, i, determines the order of accuracy of the discretization. Currently, first order and second order is available, so allowed values are i = 1 and i = 2. A second-order formula requires access to two previous time steps. Because this is not possible at the initial step, the evaluation at the initial step always uses the first-order formula.
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The bdf operator can be implemented using the prev operator. For example, obtain the first-order backward differentiation formula, also known as the backward Euler method, through bdf(u,1) =
(u-prev(u,1))/timestep. |
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If you have selected Compute boundary fluxes in a physics interface defining a dependent variable u, uflux(u) and dflux(u), when evaluated on a boundary, give an accurate value of the boundary flux into the domains on the up and down side of the boundary, respectively.
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If you have not selected Compute boundary fluxes, the uflux and dflux operators give a less accurate value of the flux into the domain, based on the gradient of u. The less accurate method is always used if the operators are evaluated during solution because accurate boundary fluxes are not available then.
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The flux for different frames can be obtained by appending _material, _spatial, _mesh, or _geometry to the operator names. The default is the material frame.
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The uflux and dflux operators are only applicable to dependent variables defined by physics interfaces that support accurate boundary fluxes.
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The centroid(expr) operator evaluates the expression expr in the centroid of the mesh element to which the point belongs.
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The circumcenter(expr) operator evaluates the expression expr in the circumcenter of the mesh element to which the point belongs. This point is in general only well defined for simplices. For other mesh elements, a point with approximately the same distance to all vertices of the mesh element is computed.
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You can add a suffix (“_frameId”) that specifies the frame in which the evaluation is done — for example, circumcenter_spatial(expr).
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All differentiation operators (d, pd, and dtang and frame.dt) can be used both in model settings and in results evaluation.
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Use the d operator to differentiate a variable with respect to another variable, using the chain rule for dependent variables. For example, d(T,x) means differentiation of T with respect to x. Some space derivatives are also available using predefined variables. For example, uxx, d(ux,x), and d(d(u,x),x) are equivalent for a dependent variable u when evaluated in a domain. On a boundary, however, d(u,x) is undefined, while ux is the average of the values from the adjacent domains.
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The pd operator works in a similar way to the d operator. The main difference is that pd(u,x) is 0 rather than ux (no chain rule is applied for dependent variables).
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Use the dtang operator to compute components of the gradient of an expression projected onto the plane tangent to the boundary where the evaluation takes place. The dtang operator can be applied to expressions that are only defined on the boundary and therefore cannot be differentiated by the d operator. In a 3D model, (dtang(f,x), dtang(f,y), dtang(f,z)) is a vector in the tangent plane of a boundary at the point where it is evaluated, and similarly in a 2D model, (dtang(f,x), dtang(f,y)) is a vector in the tangent line of a boundary point. When evaluated in a domain, dtang(f,x) is the same as d(f,x). The second argument of dtang(f,x) must be one of the spatial coordinates. Not all quantities have rules for evaluating tangential derivatives. Applying dtang(f,x) to an expression with no tangential derivative rule results in an error message.
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Use frame.dt in a domain to compute the time derivative of an expression for fixed coordinates in the specified frame. For example, spatial.dt(T) is the time derivative of the field T as seen by an observer that is stationary at fixed coordinates in the spatial frame. Similarly, material.dt(T) is the time derivative experienced by material particles, which are located at fixed coordinates in the material frame. In the presence of ALE, when the mesh is moving, these derivatives differ from the geometry and mesh time derivatives geometry.dt(T) and mesh.dt(T) by an additive convective term that is only well defined in domains (and not on boundaries, edges, and points).
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The depends(expr) operator returns 1 if the expression expr that it operates on depends on the solution; otherwise, it returns 0.
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The evaluation is performed without a mesh and that the expression thus cannot depend on the position within the entity. For a similar operator, use scope.at3(coordinate exprs, expr, 'mi'); see spatial at.
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Evaluating env(expr) on a particle or ray evaluates expr at the point in the domain where the particle or ray is. When evaluating a variable var on a particle or ray, if the variable is not defined on the particle or ray it is automatically replaced by env(var). Therefore, the env operator can often be omitted.
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Evaluating bndenv(expr) on a particle or ray, evaluates expr at the point on the boundary where the particle or ray is. If the particle or ray is not on a boundary, the evaluation fails. Use this operator instead of env when evaluating expressions that are only defined on boundaries.
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The noenv(expr) operator can only be used as part of an expression within the env(expr) or bndenv(expr) operator. The noenv(expr) operator is used to evaluate an expression expr that is defined for particles or rays but is not defined at their locations within a domain or on a boundary. For example, if you write env(expr1*noenv(expr2)), then the expr1 must be defined in the domain where the particle or ray is, and expr2 must be a quantity that is defined for individual particles or rays, such as the particle speed.
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You can for instance use this operator to make assertions on how your solution should behave. If you write if(cond,expr,error(’cond is false’)) expr is calculated when cond is true and an error message is generated including the text cond is false, when cond is false.
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The functional sensitivity operator fsens evaluates the sensitivity of the current objective functional with respect to the control variable given as the single argument. Note that the argument must be a control variable name; other dependent variables or general expression are not allowed.
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The functional sensitivity operator fsensimag evaluates the sensitivity of the current objective functional with respect to the imaginary part of the control variable given as the single argument.
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Note that the IPOPT and SNOPT optimization solvers implement least-squares objectives in a way that can cause fsens and fsensimag to return nonzero values for solutions different from the last solution.
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gpeval(gporder,expr) evaluates the expression expr in the in the Gauss point pattern given by the Gauss point order gporder (integration order — see integration order in the Glossary). The value of gporder, which must be a nonnegative integer, determines the points where expr is evaluated. Extrapolation (see below) is in this case done using an exorder set to 1.
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For products in extra dimension components, use the gpeval operator with an extra dimension scope such as xdim1.gpeval. If you evaluate an expression in an extra dimension product, gpeval with an extra dimension scope changes the Gauss points in the specified extra dimension geometry indicated by the scope (such as xdim1). Using gpeval without a scope changes the Gauss points in the base geometry.
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The first argument is a condition that COMSOL Multiphysics treats as a Boolean expression. If — at a particular evaluation point — cond is true, then the second argument is evaluated; otherwise, the third argument is evaluated. That is, only one branch is evaluated at any evaluation point.
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Use the if operator to avoid illegal operations. For example, if(x==0,1,sin(x)/x) is a valid and continuous expression for all values of x, including x = 0.
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integrate(expr,var,lower,upper) computes the integral of expr for the integration variable var over an interval specified by expressions lower for the lower limit and upper for the upper limit. The expressions for lower and upper limits do not have to be constants but are required to evaluate to real values.
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integrate(expr,var,lower,upper,tol) sets the relative tolerance in the numerical integration to tol. The default value of the relative tolerance (used when the fifth argument is omitted) is 1e-3. The tolerance must be a real constant between 0 and 1.
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The expression expr might be any 1D function, such as sin(x). It is also possible to include additional variables, such as sin(xy). The second argument specifies over which variable the integral is calculated. For example, integrate(sin(x*y),y,0,1) yields a function of x, because integration only eliminates the integration variable y. Note that the operator can also handle analytic functions, which you define under Definitions in the current component.
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It is possible to use a coordinate name as the integration variable in the integrate operator. Note, however, that this will not change the evaluation point where the first argument is evaluated. For example, if u is a dependent variable, integrate(u,x,a,b) is equivalent to u*integrate(1,x,a,b).
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To evaluate an integral over a geometrical curve, the integrate operator can be combined with one of the spatial at operators (see spatial at). For example, in a 2D model, integrate(comp1.at2(x,y,u),x,a,b) will integrate u along the line segment with endpoints (a, y) and (b, y).
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The isinf operator returns 1 if the expression that it operates on evaluates to infinity (or minus infinity); otherwise, it returns 0.
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The isnan operator returns 1 if the expression that it operates on evaluates to NaN (not-a-number); otherwise, it returns 0.
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The islinear operator returns 1 if the expression that it operates on is a linear function of the solution; otherwise, it returns 0.
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The jacdepends(expr) operator returns 1 if the derivative of the expression expr, with respect to any part of the solution, depends on the solution; otherwise, it returns 0.
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jacdepends(expr, var) returns 1 if the derivative of the expression expr, with respect to any part of the solution, depends on var; otherwise, it returns 0.
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for a number of phases 
. The number of phases is automatically selected to achieve an accurate value. lintotalavg(f,n) uses n equidistantly spaced phases.
for a number of phases 
. The number of phases is automatically selected to achieve an accurate value. lintotalpeak(f,n) uses n equidistantly spaced phases.|
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The mean operator computes the mean value of an expression as evaluated on adjacent boundaries, for example.
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The mean operator can be called on any entity that has a lower dimension than the model. The dimension of the entity from where the call is made is called n.
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The mean operator determines the smallest integer m>n for which there are adjacent entities of dimension m. It then evaluates the expression at the point one time for each m dimensional adjacent entity, regarding the point as a point in the entity, and takes the average of the calculated values.
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The nif(cond1,expr1,...,condn,exprn,exprn+1) operator implements a nested conditional expression. It can be transcribed as “if cond1, then expr1, else if ..., else if condn, then exprn, else exprn+1”.
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The nif operator can have any odd number of arguments greater than or equal to 3.
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The nojac operator makes sure that any expression that it operates on is excluded from the Jacobian computation (it prevents all symbolic differentiation). This is useful if a Jacobian contribution is not strictly necessary and the computational requirements for it are high, such as when using a nonlocal coupling. The use of the nojac operator can then significantly lower the memory requirements by avoiding fill-in of the Jacobian matrix, but its use might also slow down the convergence of the solution.
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The k-ε turbulence model is an example where a built-in use of the nojac operator improves performance.
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When the ppr operator is applied on an expression, the COMSOL Multiphysics software uses polynomial-preserving recovery to evaluate all variables in the expression that are discretized using Lagrange shape functions. For example, if e = ux + vy, then ppr(e^2)=(ppr(ux)+ppr(vy))^2. For other shape function types, the operator has no effect.
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The pprint operator similarly applies polynomial-preserving recovery within each group of domains with equal settings. Use these operators to get an estimate of the discretization error in the gradient. For example, ux-pprint(ux) in a 1D model.
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The expression prev(expr, i) evaluates expr using the solution obtained i time steps before the current time step.
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When used in equations, the prev operator makes it possible to discretize time derivatives. For example, to discretize ut (the time derivative of u) with the formula known as the backward Euler method, use the expression (u-prev(u,1))/timestep. Here, timestep is the size of the time step used to reach the current solution u. The prev operator is also applicable for timestep. For example, prev(timestep,1) is the size of the time step used to reach the solution at the previous time step.
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When using the prev operator, sufficiently many previous time steps must be stored. Specify the number of previous time steps to store in the time discrete solver (time discrete levels) in the Number of time discrete levels field in the General section of the Settings window for Time Discrete Solver. Evaluating an expression at a previous time step that has not been stored results in an error.
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You can only use the reacf operator during postprocessing; it is not supported for variables solved for during the solution process. Also, it is not supported for curl elements.
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The reaction force operator (reacf) is useful when calculating integrals of reaction forces or fluxes.
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Apply the reacf operator on the names of dependent variables when doing a surface integration. For example, in structural mechanics, with dependent variables u and v corresponding to x- and y-displacements, use reacf(u) and reacf(v) to access integrals of the reaction forces in the x and y directions. The integration for the reaction force is a summation over the nodes, so the integration method must be summation rather than integration. The automatic integration method in the integrations available under Results>Derived Values detects the use of the reacf operation and then uses the summation method.
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Storing of the reaction forces can be disabled by clearing the Reaction forces check box in the Output section in the solver’s Settings window. This saves some computational time and memory. It is then not possible to use the reaction force operator.
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You can call reacf with an optional second argument. The second argument is the dimension of the entity where the reaction force should be evaluated. The dimension is assumed to be at least equal to the dimension from where the call to reacf is made. This is different from reacf(u) only in the case when u is not defined on the entity where the operator is evaluated but only on adjacent entities of higher dimension.
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It is also possible to call reacf with an optional third argument. This is a factor that the COMSOL Multiphysics software multiplies reacf(u,dim) by. The third argument is evaluated on each adjacent entity of dimension dim and multiplied by the reaction forces on that entity.
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The expression realdot(a,b) treats complex numbers a and b as if they were real-valued vectors of length 2 and returns their dot product. Also think of the operator call as a shorthand form of real(a*conj(b)). This expression, however, is not an analytical function of its complex arguments and therefore has no unique partial derivatives with respect to a and b.
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The difference between realdot(a,b) and real(a*conj(b)) is that the partial derivatives of the former with respect to a and b are defined as conj(b) and conj(a), respectively, while for the latter expression, the partial derivatives are real(b) and real(a).
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Common objective function quantities like power and energy must be redefined in terms of realdot(a,b) rather than real(a*conj(b)) for the sensitivity solver to compute correct derivatives. This applies also to the absolute value, abs(a), via the definition |a|2 = realdot(a, a).
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The realdot function is nonanalytic, and it is therefore not possible to express and evaluate the Jacobian of that function correctly when a complex-valued solution vector is represented in terms of single complex-valued degrees of freedom. For that reason, the realdot operator, by default, results in Jacobian contributions during assembling only when the Split complex variables in real and imaginary parts settings in the Compile Equations node for the Study is active. The default behavior of Jacobian contributions is possible to override by providing an optional third argument to realdot:
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−1: (default) Jacobian contributions in the assembling only if splitting of complex variables in real and imaginary part is active for the Study.
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To access the latest assembled residual, use the residual operator. For example, you can plot residual(spf.U) to get a plot of the latest residual of the velocity U in a fluid-flow simulation. The residual can provide insight into convergence issues by showing the locations where the algebraic residual is large.
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To make the residual available in the simulation output (for plotting, for example), specify that the solver stores it both while solving and in the output by selecting While solving and in output from the Store last residual list in the Advanced solver node’s Settings window.
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For interpolated output (the Times to store list set to Specified values), no data is stored for the residual (NaN).
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The algebraic residual data only makes sense for actual time steps taken by the solver. For interpolated output, which is the default, the COMSOL Multiphysics software does not store any values for the residual; you therefore get an empty plot for the interpolated times. There are two ways in which you can study the residual for time-dependent problem (assuming you have set Store last residual to While solving and in output):
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When the forward sensitivity operator (sens operator) is applied to an expression, COMSOL Multiphysics uses the forward sensitivity solution with respect to the indicated control variable instead of the primal solution for the evaluation. This means, in practice, that when the first argument is a linear expression in the dependent variables, the operator returns its derivative with respect to the control variable given as second argument. The result for a nonlinear expression usually lacks meaning.
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For scalar control variables, access the corresponding forward sensitivity solution by giving the control variable name as the second argument to this operator. For example, with the dependent variable u and the scalar control parameter q, access the forward sensitivity solution ∂u/∂q as sens(u,q).
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The argument u must be a dependent variable or a partial derivative of a dependent variable. In the latter case, the order returned is the order of the dependent variable itself and not the order of its derivative.
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It is an error to apply the shapeorder operator to, for example, an expression, a constant, or a spatial coordinate.
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The side operator evaluates an expression as defined in the adjacent entity.
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The side operator can be called on an entity that has lower dimension than the model. The dimension of the entity from where the call is made is called n.
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The side operator is an operator that evaluates an expression, not on the entity where it is called but instead on one of the adjacent entities of dimension n+1. You choose which entity by giving its number (this is the number displayed, for instance, in the selection fields) as the first argument to the operator.
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It can happen that the entity you choose is adjacent to the evaluation point more than once. For instance, a boundary can have the same domain on both sides. In such cases the side operator takes the average of the different values.
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The scope.ati(<coordinate expressions>, expr) operator evaluates the expression expr in the geometry with the given scope (typically comp1 for Component 1 or a similar scope for another Component branch) on an i-dimensional entity in the point given by the coordinate expressions (at0 for a 0-dimensional entity, at1 for a 1-dimensional entity, at2 for a 2-dimensional entity, and at3 for a 3-dimensional entity). For example, comp1.at1(0,y,dom) evaluates dom in the two-dimensional geometry on an edge in the point (0, y). To use a certain ati operator variant, there must be a meshed geometric entity of the right dimension at the coordinates where it is evaluated; for example, at0 only works if the source geometry has a vertex in the point where you want to evaluate the expression. The number of arguments for the scope.ati operator is equal to the space dimension in the source component (the coordinate expressions) plus one (the expression to evaluate).
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For two- and three-dimensional models, the evaluation on the domain level (that is, at2 for two-dimensional models and at3 for three-dimensional models) can take an extra argument 'evaltype'. The supported 'evaltype' values are 'mi' and 'minc'. Contrary to regular ati evaluations, these evaluation types do not require any domain meshes and can be evaluated in any given point. However, if there are two adjacent domains for which something is defined differently, the operator requires that the boundary between the domains is meshed. The 'mi' (mesh-independent evaluation) value checks that you have meshed all such required boundaries (even for variables that have nothing to do with the actual argument of the operator), whereas the 'minc' (mesh-independent no-check evaluation) value do not, and it might therefore give inaccurate results if not used correctly.
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To all operators you can add a suffix (“_frameId”) that specifies the frame in which the coordinate expressions are used — for example, at1_spatial(x,y, expr). Without a suffix, the evaluation is performed in the material frame.
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The subst operator takes a variable or expression as its first argument, followed by one or more argument pairs, each consisting of a variable name and an expression. The substval operator uses the same syntax but with the values of variables as the argument pairs. The first argument in each pair is an original variable that appears in the variable or expression that you specify as the first argument, and the second argument in each pair is the variable or expression that you want to substitute the original variable with. This can be useful, for example, for replacing the variable for temperature in a temperature-dependent expression for some quantity by a fixed initial temperature for use as an initial condition.
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As an example, the expression subst(hmnf.nutildeinit,p,pin_stat) (taken from the Sajben Diffuser model in the CFD Module’s application library) substitutes the dependent variable for pressure, p, with a user-defined variable pin_stat for the inlet static pressure. The evaluation of the variable hmnf.nutildeinit (for the undamped turbulent kinematic viscosity) then takes the value of pin_stat instead of p.
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The unit of the output from the subst and substval operators is the same as the unit for its first input argument.
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The timeint and timeavg operators integrate and compute the average of a time-dependent expression over a time interval, respectively. timeint(t1,t2,expr) and timeavg(t1,t2,expr)compute the integral and average of expr over the interval t=t1 to t=t2, respectively. The first two arguments must be real scalars. The integral is computed by numerical integration, subdividing the interval until the required accuracy is reached. The timeavg operator numerically integrates the expression in the same way as timeint and then divides the result by t2-t1.
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timeint(t1,t2,expr,tol) and timeavg(t1,t2,expr,tol) set the relative tolerance in the numerical integration procedure to tol. The tolerance must be a positive real constant. The default tolerance (used when the fourth argument is omitted) is 1e-8.
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timeint(t1,t2,expr,tol,minlen) and timeavg(t1,t2,expr,tol,minlen) set the smallest length of the subintervals used in numerical integration as a fraction of the length of the whole integration interval. Subintervals smaller than this length are not further subdivided even if that means that the required accuracy is not reached. minlen must be a positive real constant. The default value of minlen (used when the last argument is omitted) is 1e-4.
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timeint(t1,t2,expr,'nointerp') and timeavg(t1,t2,expr,'nointerp') evaluate the time integral without doing any interpolation between the stored time steps. This variant might be less accurate but faster and more robust.
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The timeint and timeavg operators can only be used during results evaluation, so you cannot use them when setting up the model.
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The timemax and timemin operators evaluate the maximum and minimum, respectively, of an expression over time. timemax(t1,t2,expr) finds the maximum of expr on the interval t1 ≤ t ≤ t2. The first two arguments must be real constants.
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timemax(t1,t2,expr,'nointerp') and timemin(t1,t2,expr,'nointerp') evaluate the maximum or minimum without doing any interpolation between the stored time steps. This variant might be less accurate but faster and more robust.
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The timemax and timemin operators can only be used during results evaluation, so you cannot use then when setting up the model. See attimemax and attimemin for similar operators.
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The try_catch(tryExpr,catchExpr) operator attempts to evaluate the expression tryExpr, but if this fails for any point, the operator evaluates catchExpr instead.
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Consider using the if operator (see if) with a suitable condition as the first argument instead of the try_catch operator, if the if operator is applicable.
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The COMSOL Multiphysics software can evaluate expressions on both sides of a boundary. One way to do this is by using the up and down operators. These operators are available only on boundaries (that is, geometric entities of dimension one less than the dimension of the model).
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Use the up and down operators to evaluate an expression on the upside or downside of the boundary. If the upside or downside is outside of the geometry, or if the variables in the expression are not active on that side, the up or down operator returns 0.
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The var operator (variation operator) is available for modeling using the weak formulation of the equations.
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The var operator has the same function as the test operator but is limited to the specified set of fields.
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This operator creates the test function for the variable that it operates on. For an expression, such as var(F(u, ∇u, v, ∇v), a), where the dependent variable u is in the field named a and the dependent variable v is not, the var operator is equivalent to:
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The with operator can access specific solutions during results evaluation.
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For time-dependent problems, parametric problems, and eigenvalue problems, this makes it possible to use the solution at any of the time steps, any parameter value, or any eigensolution in an expression used for plotting or data evaluation. To evaluate a sum (average) of displacement for the first six eigenmodes above the rigid-body modes in a 3D solid mechanics model, for example, use sum(with(m,(1/(m+1))*solid.disp),m,7,12), where m is the summation index, summing the displacements, divided by m+1 to form the average, from eigenmode 7 to eigenmode 12.
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Use the solution number as the first input argument. The second input argument is the expression that you want to evaluate using this solution. For example, with(3,u^2) provides the square of the third eigensolution for an eigenvalue problem.
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You can also use 'first' or 'last' as the first argument to evaluate an expression at the first or last time of the simulation, respectively.
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For example, you can use the with operator to verify that two eigensolutions are orthogonal or to compare two solutions at different time steps or parameter values.
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If you want to use the with operator for a parametric problem, you should use a Parametric solver instead of a Parametric Sweep.
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The with operator can only be used during results evaluation, so you cannot use it when setting up the model.
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You can use 'current' as the solver sequence tag if you do not want to change from the current solver sequence. When changing solutions in outer sweeps the 'current' tag option is not supported. Therefore, it is recommended to use the correct solver sequence tag when possible.
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The withsol operator requires a dataset with a solution. The Mesh dataset,is therefore not compatible with the withsol operator.
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For a time-dependent solver, withsol('sol1',expr) evaluates at the last stored time step in the solution. Other time steps can be specified by using the setind or setval operators as additional arguments. For example, withsol('sol1',expr,setval(t,0.5)) evaluates at the time step t = 0.5 (using interpolation between stored time steps if necessary), and withsol('sol1',expr,setind(t,3)) evaluates at the third stored time step.
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For an eigenvalue solver, withsol('sol1',expr) evaluates at the first eigenvalue. Other eigenvalues can be specified using the setind operator as an additional argument. For example, withsol('sol1',expr,setind(lambda,2)) evaluates at the second eigenvalue. (The setval operator can also be used with eigenvalues, but this is not very useful because the exact eigenvalues must then be known.) Using this syntax can be useful, for example, to define a force with an acceleration distribution taken from an eigenmode of an eigenvalue analysis.
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For a parametric sweep over a parameter p, withsol('sol1', expr) evaluates at the last parameter value. You can specify other parameter values using the setind or setval operators as additional arguments. For example, withsol('sol1',expr,setval(p,4)) evaluates with the parameter value p = 4. withsol('sol1',expr,setind(p,2)) evaluates for the second value of parameter p.
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