A methodology for large scale finite element models, including multi-physic, multi-domain and multi-timestep aspects

Abstract

This works concerns the development of a virtual prototyping tool dedicated to electro-thermo-mechanical simulation of power converters. The FEM code, written using an object-oriented language, includes a dual Schur Domain Decomposition Method. The solving of problems including floating subdomains can be performed in steady-state cases, whereas one can couple multi-timestep implicit and explicit integration schemes in transient analysis. The last part of this work is about the study of an industrial benchmark concerning the power converters used in railway transport: the electro-thermal simulation of a switch in transient analysis. This example allows to compare different strategies of tearing into subdomains and the use of different timesteps on the same structure.