Project 5

Flexure Using Comsol Multiphysics

Normally, in exure modeling one would only model the elastic plate. Under static con-
ditions, the uid exerts a vertical stress on the base of the plate which is proportional to the
deection w. This stress is easily applied as a boundary condition. Here, we will model exure
in 2-D by also modeling the uid. The main point is to illustrate the interaction of uid and solid
(i.e., the multiphysics aspect of Comsol). The result could, for example, be modied to include
uid ow (e.g., a plume) in the mantle.
Flexure Recipe for Comsol:
[1] In Model Wizard, select spatial dimension 2D. Click Right Arrow to continue.
[2] In next menu in Model Wizard, under Fluid Flow select Fluid-Structure Interaction
(fsi). Highlight that item and click + below. After a few seconds, fsi will appear as part
of selected physics. We could add more physics, but fsi already contains solid mechanics
(the plate) and uid ow (the mantle). Click Right Arrow.
[3] Under Select Study Type, select Time Dependent (Stationary might work, too; I
havent tested). Click the Finish Flag.
[4] The model basics are now set up. The model outline appears in the left menu, Model
Builder.
[5] Select the appropriate icon at the top to draw a rectangle in the Graphics window. The rst
rectangle will be the mantle. I made mine 1 unit wide, and 0.2 units high.
[6] On top of that rectangle (in contact with the rst), draw another rectangle for the plate.
Make it a bit narrower so that there is a free mantle surface on each side. When youre
done with this, rectangle 2 should appear in the Model Builder and you can adjust the
size. I made mine 0.9 units wide and 0.01 units high. Make sure it remains in contact with
the mantle.
[7] Draw another small rectangle for the load and place it in the center on top of the plate. My
box is 0.05 wide by 0.03 high.
[8] Comsol automatically understands that the areas of contact are internal boundaries.
[9] No need to do anything in the materials section (well dene the relevant quantities else-
where).
[10] Lets rst dene the elastic and the uid domains. Under Fluid Structure Interaction 1
(fsi), click Fluid Properties 1. In the box to the right, you see that all 3 domains are
initialized as uids. We will override this for the elastic parts in a moment. You can
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click on Equation to see what equations will be solved in the uid domains. Click
Dynamic viscosity, change to User dened, and enter 1e3. The value of density is not
so important (it is only used in the inertial term), but it must not be zero.
[11] Click fsi in the Model Builder. In the fsi window, under Physical Model, you may want to
choose incompressible ow. This is not absolutely necessary, but probably makes com-
putations faster. Also select neglect inertial term. Under Structural Transient Behavior,
select Quasi-static (this means that also in the solid parts, the inertial terms are neglected).
If you go back to Fluid Properties, you will see that the equations have changed. (But I
dont understand why the u/t-term is still there; that is one of the inertial terms).
[12] Under fsi in the Model Builder, click Linear Elastic Material 1. Highlight the litho-
spheric plate, and click + in the domain selection. This will associate domain 2 with
elastic material 1, and will also override the uid denition for that domain.
[13] If you right-click on fsi in the model builder, you get a detailed menu. The rst part relates
to the domains, the second part (with some identical entries) relates to the boundaries. To
add another material for the load, select Linear Elastic Material under Solid Mechan-
ics in the rst section of the menu. You get an additional material denition in the model
builder. Add the load block to that material denition.
[14] For the plate, select a user-dened E of 1e7, a of 0.3, and a of 1000.
[15] For the load, pick E = 1e9 (essentially undeformable), = 0.3, = 1000.
[16] If you click Wall 1, youll see that all uid boundaries (except for the plate contact) are
pre-dened as wall boundaries (no ow).
[17] For the small top boundaries of the uid, we want a free surface instead. Right-click on fsi
in the model builder, select under Laminar Flow (second section of the pop-up menu)
Boundary Stress. Boundary stress appears in the model builder.
[18] Click boundary stress, highlight the free surface boundaries, and click + to add them to
the boundary condition. This overrides the wall boundary condition. Leave the forces
as 0.
[19] If you click on Free in the model builder, you see that all outside boundaries of the elastic
media are free boundaries (i.e., no stress). Thats what we want, so leave it untouched.
[20] Nowwe add gravity to the problem. Right-click on fsi, select Volume Force under Laminar
Flow in the rst section of the pop-up menu. Add the mantle to this domain, and under
Volume Force, add a force of -1000 in the y-direction. (Really, this should be g).
[21] Again right-click on fsi, but this time select Body Load under Solid Mechanics. Add a
vertical force F
y
= 1000.
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[22] Click Mesh in the model builder. Select physics-controlled mesh and normal or ne for
the element size. Smaller elements give better results but take longer to compute.
[23] Under Study 1, select Step 1: Time Dependent. Change the range at the top. The pre-
set values are for a model time of 1s, with results saved every 0.1s. Change this to
0,1000,10000. The reason is that we set our viscosity to 1000 (a thick sirup), so equi-
librium should be reached after a few hours or so. I chose a high viscosity to make sure
that no waves form (no inertial effects).
[24] Under Study 1, click Show default solver. Expand the menu, and right-click on Time-
dependent solver 1. Select Fully Coupled. This overrides Segregated. These are 2
different ways how Comsol solves the equations internally. Segregated attempts to solve
the solid and uid domains separately, and then iterates in order to match the common
boundary conditions. Fully coupled solves both domains at the same time. For this type
of problem, fully coupled seems to converge better and faster.
[25] To run the model, click on Study 1, and then click on the green = sign near the top of the
window. A solution should appear in a few seconds or so. Since you ran a time-dependent
solution, you get the solution at one particular time step (probably the initial time step
t = 0. Other time steps are easily plotted under Results.
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