Avoiding Strong Transients

If you start solving a time-dependent problem with initial conditions that are inconsistent, or if you use boundary conditions or sources that switch instantaneously at a certain time, you induce strong transient signals in a system. The time-stepping algorithm then takes very small steps to resolve the transient, and the solution time might be very long, or the solution process might even stop. Stationary problems can run into mesh-resolution issues such as overshooting and undershooting of the solution due to infinite flux problems.

Unless you want to know the details of the transients, start with initial conditions that lead to a consistent solution to a stationary problem. Only then turn on the boundary values, sources, or driving fluxes over a time interval that is realistic for your model.

In most cases, turn on your sources using a smoothed step over a finite time using a function node under . What you might think of as a step function is, in real-life physics, often a little bit smoothed because of inertia. The step or switch does not happen instantaneously. Electrical switches take milliseconds, and solid-state switches take microseconds.

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Step

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Introduction to Solvers and Studies

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Stationary and Time Dependent