Current density on mesh as magnetic field source

Altair Forum User

Hello,

 

I'm completely new to Flux. I'm wondering whether it would be possible to import a meshed current density as a magnetic field source in Flux. The coil generating the field is quite complex, and I don't want to import it in Flux just yet.

 

Thank you,

twitzel

Alejandro Rodríguez

Hello Twitzel,

 

You cannot import directly a meshed current density because import at same time geometry, mesh and physics is not allowed. However, if I have understood you properly, you have several possibilities to perform the process you are thinking about.

 

The simpler one is to use a non-meshed coil as source. It has the advantage to be simple to define, fast to calculate and it offers the possibility to define first all your geometry and do the coil just at the end, just as you have proposed. This method is specially suitable if you are interesting in your coil meanly as an external excitation; however, if you are studying important physical effects that take place inside the coil this is not the best approach.

 

Another possibility is to define your geometry in Flux (or import it from another software) and then import coil’s geometry from a different CAD file. The limitation here is that both geometries must be unmeshed and you have to be careful in order to avoid possible collisions or undesired contact between the faces/volumes defined in different files.

 

You can also define and mesh all your geometry in another software (Simlab or Hypermesh for example) and then import the geometry into Flux, where it will be treated. However, if you want to use this method it is necessary to define all your geometry at the same time,  you cannot just import a meshed geometry a final step once you have defined previously the rest of your geometry (probable with its own mesh).

 

As you see, you have plenty of choice, if depends of your project what of these approaches is the best for you.

Hope this helps.

Best regards.

Altair Forum User

Thank you for the quick reply. I figured that importing a coil geometry might the best bet for me to get started, but perhaps I can even get away using magnetic field sources described by an analytical function. I want to test eddy currents, forces, and heating of structures exposed to AC magnetic fields generated by a complex source. I could model them idealized by a function for now as well.

 

Thank you,

twitzel