This paper was produced for the 2019 NAFEMS World Congress in Quebec Canada

Resource Abstract

In many engineering problems, strong interactions between multiple physical phenomena arise, which generates the need for multiphysics modeling to produce accurate simulation results. Existing physics solvers do not always consider physical phenomena outside of their domain of specialization. Adding physics models from other disciplines to these solvers is not always tractable because of underlying numerical methods being used. In addition, investing in additional modeling capabilities for existing solvers is not always an effective solution because of availability of other solvers that are tailored to model those phenomena with detail and accuracy. This creates the need for a unified infrastructure that can leverage individual solvers efficiently and can provide accurate results.



In this paper, we describe the architecture of System Coupling - a coupling solver for performing multiphysics simulations. We describe key aspects of this solver including user and solver interfaces, analysis setup, coordination of coupling participants, and algorithms for the transfer of solution data between these participants. In addition, we describe other capabilities including restarts, results post-processing, and convergence monitoring.



We show two examples of multiphysics problems solved using the coupling solver and industry leading physics solvers, to demonstrate the workflow. In the first example, a finite volume CFD solver is coupled with a finite element structural solver to demonstrate a fluid-structure interaction simulation. In the second example, a finite volume CFD solver is coupled with a finite element electromagnetic solver to demonstrate an induction heating simulation.