The Time Parametric node () is an attribute node that handles settings for parameter stepping to add parametric sweeps. For each set of parameter values, a time-dependent problem is solved.

This attribute can be used together with a Time-Dependent Solver or another time-dependent solver. The functionality is then similar to when Parametric is added as a subnode to a Stationary Solver, but continuation is not supported. The initial data is the same for all parameters.

Use the Defined by study step list to specify if the settings are synchronized with the corresponding study step. Select User defined to modify the parameter table and sweep type.

Use the Sweep type list to specify the type of sweep to perform. The Specified combinations type (the default) solves for a number of given combination of values, while the All combinations type solves for all combination of values. Using all combinations can lead to a very large number of solutions.

Use the table with Parameter name, Parameter value list, and (optional) Parameter unit to specify parameter names, values, and units for the parametric solver. Use the Add button () to add a row to the table. Each row has one parameter name, a corresponding parameter value list, and an optional unit. The unit becomes orange if the unit that you specify does not match the unit given for the parameter where it is defined. For the Specified combinations sweep type, the list of values must have equal length. When you click in the Parameter value list column to define the parameter values, you can click the Range button () to define a range of parameter values. The parameter unit overrides the unit of the global parameter. If no parameter unit is given, parameter values without explicit dimensions are considered dimensionless.

If more than one parameter name has been specified, the lists of parameter values are interpreted as follows: Assume that the parameter names are p1 and p2, and that p1 has the list 1 3 and p2 has the list 2 4. For the Specified combinations sweep type, the solver first uses p1 equal to 1 and p2 equal to 2. Thereafter, it uses p1 equal to 3 and p2 equal to 4. And when the sweep type is All combinations, the solver uses the following order for the parameter combinations: 1 2, 1 4, 3 2, and 3 4.

An alternative to specifying parameter names and values directly in the table is to specify them in a text file. You can use the Load from File button () to browse to such a text file. The read names and values are appended to the current table. The format of the text file must be such that the parameter names appear in the first column and the values for each parameter appear row-wise with a space separating the name and values, and a space separating the values. Click the Save to File button () to save the contents of the table to a text file (or to a Microsoft Excel Workbook spreadsheet if the license includes LiveLink™ for Excel®).

Select the Distribute parameters check box to distribute the parameters on several computational nodes. If the problem is too large to run on a single node, you can enable the Maximum number of groups field to use the nodes’ memory more efficiently. In this case the same parameter is solved for by several nodes that cooperate as if running a nondistributed sweep. The number of nodes that cooperate is equal to the maximum of the total number of nodes divided by the Maximum number of groups setting and 1. So if the total number of nodes is 12 and the Maximum number of groups is 3, 3 groups with 4 nodes each cooperate.

Least-squares data are read from least squares objectives (either a file or a table), and the solver sequence is set up accordingly: If there is a least-squares objective containing parameter columns in a time-dependent study step, a Time Parametric solver is set up, and the parameter names and values appear under Parameters from least-squares objectives.

If Use parameters from least-squares objectives is on (which is the default), parameter values corresponding to the same parameter names are merged between different files. If there are any user-defined parameters, user-defined parameter values are merged with merged data from files. For parameters that are defined only in files and not user defined (and vice versa), globally defined values are used.

General parameter values list here refers to the list of parameters in the General section above. If Exclude values outside General parameter value lists is on (which is the default), only least-squares parameter values from files that lie between the smallest and the largest user-defined parameter values are merged. Other values are ignored. Otherwise (that is, Exclude values outside General parameter value lists is off), all least-squares defined parameter values are merged. In the case of no user-defined parameters, the merging is done between files only.

If Use parameters from least-squares objectives is off, no least-squares parameters from files are used.

The default values of Use parameters from least-squares objectives and Exclude values outside General parameter value lists can be changed only if Defined by study step is set to User defined.