Adding the COMSOL Cosimulation Block
1
Start COMSOL with Simulink, as described in Starting COMSOL Multiphysics® with Simulink®.
This starts a COMSOL Multiphysics server and the MATLAB prompt, where the LiveLink for Simulink welcome message is displayed.
Before you start Simulink make sure that the folder where you have just saved the model MPH file is set in MATLAB.
2
In the MATLAB Home toolbar, press the Simulink button to start the Simulink environment.
3
In the Simulink Start Page window, locate the Blank Model section and click Create Model.
Proceed by adding a COMSOL Cosimulation block to the diagram.
4
In the Simulink Simulation toolbar, click Library Browser.
5
In the Simulink Library Browser window, select COMSOL 6.4 from the list to access the COMSOL block library.
6
Drag and drop the COMSOL Cosimulation block to the Simulink diagram.
7
Double-click the COMSOL Cosimulation block to access the block settings.
8
In the Block Parameters: COMSOL Simulation window, in the Filename field, enter the full filepath of the cosimulation file as created in the section Configuring and Exporting the Cosimulation File.
Note: If the cosimulation file is stored in folder, which path is set in MATLAB, you only need to enter the name of the file in the Filename field.
9
In the Communication step size field enter: 5e-6. This means that COMSOL and Simulink will communicate every 5 μs.
10
Click OK.
The block is now updated according to the cosimulation file settings. Here we recognize the single input parameter DV, and the two outputs named disp and max temp.
Between bracket you can see the units for the block input and outputs. These are for information purpose to let you the input of the expected input value and the returning output values.
Note: There is no support unit transformation inside the COMSOL Cosimulation block.
11
In the Simulink diagram, add a Constant block set to 5 and connect it to the COMSOL Cosimulation block input. This sets the input voltage to 5 V.
12
Now add scopes for the two outputs. This way you can monitor the tip displacement and the maximum temperature.
13
In the Stop Time text field, enter 1e-4. This sets the simulation time to 10 ms. The diagram should now look like one in the image below: