Home / Examples / Coupled Analysis / Electric-Thermal-Stress Analysis [Coulomb/Watt/Galileo] / Example 1: Deformation of Conductive Strip due to Heating

Example 1: Deformation of Conductive Strip due to Heating

General

• The model is a strip line having bend shapes. An electric potential is given across the strip line and the electric current is solved in the electric analysis.
  Then the eventual joule loss and temperature rise are solved in the thermal analysis.
  Then the deformation caused by the temperature rise is solved in the stress analysis.
   

• After executing Example 2 of the electric-thermal analysis, stress analysis (Galileo) is executed.
   

• Unless specified in the list below, the default conditions will be applied.
   

• Obtain this session's project file. (Right-click and choose 'Save link as')




• Results will vary depending on Femtet version and the PC environment.

 

Analysis Space

Item	Settings
Analysis Space	3D
Model Unit	mm

 

Analysis Conditions

Solvers used are Coulomb, Watt, and Galileo.

Item	Settings
Solver	Electric Analysis [Coulomb] Thermal Analysis [Watt] Stress Analysis [Galileo]
Analysis Type (Coulomb/Watt)	Steady-state Analysis
Options	N/A *

* [Thermal Load] is selected by default for the thermal-stress coupled analysis.

 

The reference temperature is set on the Step/Thermal Load tab.

Tab	Setting Item	Settings
Step/Thermal Load	Reference Temperature	25 [deg]

* The reached temperatures come from the thermal analysis.

Model

The same as the example 2 of electric-thermal coupled analysis.

Body Attributes and Materials

Body Number/Type	Body Attribute Name	Material Name
0/Solid	Board	001_Alumina *
6/Solid	Strip	008_Cu *

* Available from the material DB

 

It is assumed that there is no current flow in the alumina substrate.

Body Attribute Name	Thickness/Width	Analysis Domain
Board		Solver: Deselect Electric Analysis (Coulomb)

 

Resistivity/conductivity is required to be set to “Board” to run the Coulomb/Watt solver
even though it is not used in the electric analysis. As the resistivity in the database of the 001_Alumina is not defined by default,

the value is temporarily set to 1.0. (The result will not be affected)
In the thermal analysis, specific heat is required. It is not defined in the database of the 001_Alumina either.

Therefore the setting below is applied.

Material Name	Specific Heat	Resistivity
001_Alumina	1.0 [J/kg/deg]	1.0 [Ωm]

Boundary Conditions

• The temperature of the bottom face of the substrate is set to 25 [deg] using the boundary condition of T0.

• The [Adiabatic] boundary condition is set to a part of faces using the boundary condition of T_Wall.
  This keeps the outer boundary condition from being applied on those faces.

• Boundary conditions, V0 and V1, define the electric potential at each end of the microstrip line.

• The heat transfer to the ambient is defined by the outer boundary condition.

• It is not fixed mechanically.

Boundary Condition Name/Topology	Tab	Boundary Condition Type	Settings
T_Wall/Face	Thermal	Adiabatic
T0/Face	Thermal	Temperature	25 [deg]
V0/Face	Electric	Electric Wall	Electric Potential Specified, Waveform: Constant, Electric Potential: 0.00 V
V1/Face	Electric	Electric Wall	Electric Potential Specified, Waveform: Constant, Electric Potential: 0.01 V
Outer Boundary Condition *	Thermal	Heat Transfer/Convection	Coefficient of Heat Transfer: 10 [W/m2/deg] Ambient Temperature: 25 [deg]

 

To set Outer Boundary Condition, go to the [Model] tab
 

 

and click [Outer Boundary Condition] .

Results

See Example 3 of electric-thermal coupled analysis for the temperature distribution.

The deformation as a result of stress analysis is shown below. The vectors represent the stresses. The unit is [Pa].

The strip line rises in temperature and expands, causing the substrate to bend.