Branches and Subbranches in the Tree Structure

You can proceed through your modeling in the Model Builder by selecting the branches in the order suggested by the default positions, from the top down, or selecting and defining each branch as needed. One level below the main Component branch are subbranches as described in Table 3-2 and shown in Figure 3-2. The node appearance can also change depending on many factors. See Dynamic Nodes in the Model Builder for examples.

Table 3-2: The Model Builder Branches and Subbranches

Figure Ref.	Icon	Name	Description and Link to More Information
Main Branches
1		Global Definitions	Right-click to define global Parameters, Variables, Functions, Load and Constraint Groups, a Materials branch, and an optional Parts branch, which are globally available in all model components. See The Global Definitions Node.
2	Various	Component	This branch includes the subbranches Definitions, Geometry, Materials, physics interfaces, and Mesh. You can also right-click the node to Add Physics and Add Mesh at this level. See The Component Node.
3		Study	This subbranch is where you set up study steps and solver configurations to solve a model using one or more study types for different analyses. See Studies and Solvers.
4		Results	The features contained in the subbranches for Data Sets, Derived Values, Tables, Export, and Reports are used to present and analyze results. See Results Analysis and Plots.
Subbranches
5		Definitions (Local)	This subbranch is used to create Variables, Functions, Selections, Coordinate Systems, Component Couplings, and Probes as well as other definitions that are local to a specific component in your model. See Global and Local Definitions.
6		Geometry (Local)	This branch contains the definition of the model’s geometry, where you can import a geometry or build one yourself using the available tools. See Geometry Modeling and CAD Tools.
7		Materials (Global)	This branch makes it possible to add materials and a material switch for material sweeps at the global level. You can add materials in the same way as you do under a Component branch, but materials on the global level are available throughout the model and therefore have no Geometric Entity Selection section. See Global Materials.
7a		Materials (Local)	Collect all material properties organized in Material nodes with a defined geometric scope. Material properties required by any of the physics interfaces and features show up automatically in the defined material’s Settings window. See Materials.
8	Various	Physics interfaces	Each physics interface forms its own branch based on the model definition requirements. See The Physics Interfaces and Creating a New Model to start.
8a		Multiphysics	This is a main branch but is associated directly with the physics interface branch. It contains multiphysics coupling nodes. See The Multiphysics Node.
9		Mesh	This subbranch collects all meshes defined for a model. If there is only a single mesh in a model, its Mesh node appears directly under the corresponding Component node. See Meshing.
10		Data Sets	Data Sets refer to the source of data for creating Plots and Reports. It can be a Solution, a Mesh, or some transformation or cut plane applied to other data sets; that is, you can create new data sets from other data sets.
		Derived Values	Used to define evaluations of numerical results — globally, in a point, or integrated quantities. For 2D and 3D plots, you can also get numerical results directly in a table by clicking the plot. See About Derived Values.
		Tables	This subbranch displays the results from integral and variable evaluations defined in Derived Values nodes or by probes and stored in Table nodes. See The Table Window and Tables Node.
	Various	Plot Groups	After adding a 3D, 2D, or 1D Plot Group, plots are added and defined under this subbranch. See Plot Groups and Plots.
		Export	After a model is completed, you can add various components to this and then generate outputs (animations, data, images, or export), or export the information to your computer as image, movie, or data files for use in external documents or for other purposes. See Export Types.
		Reports	This subbranch opens the Report Generator, which is a tool for reporting and documenting models created in COMSOL. It creates a record of the entire model including all the settings made during the modeling process. The report is an overview of the model and includes model properties, geometry, physics interfaces and features, mesh, studies, and results and visualization. See Reports.

Figure 3-2: An example of the Model Builder tree structure showing the many different types of branches and subbranches available in a model. Refer to Table 3-2 to learn more about a node. Use the numbers to locate the node in the table.