Can you perform thermal and mechanical simulation in CST?
Yes, CST Studio Suite includes multiphysics capabilities. Electromagnetic losses result in increased temperatures. Increased temperatures might cause mechanical deformations that compromise the performance of the device.
Multiphysics workflows are important for electronics cooling, PCB deformations, filter detuning, and human bio-heating.
Both uni- and bidirectional EM-thermal coupling are supported.
In the unidirectional case, the EM solver first solves the electromagnetic fields and the resultant thermal losses. The thermal solver then imports those losses as heat sources and performs a thermal analysis to obtain the temperature field in the computational domain.
Using bidirectional coupling not only allows the thermal solver to import the thermal losses obtained from the EM solver but also allows the EM solver to import the temperature field calculated by the thermal solver. The bidirectional coupling can find its application in problems involving materials whose EM properties are dependent on temperature.