The Physics Nodes

An important part of building a model is where you add physics branches. For example, when Creating a New Model. This branch (see Figure 3-2 for an example) contains the nodes that define the material properties, equations, loads, initial values, boundary conditions, and other parts of the physics that the model describes. All Settings windows for the specification of the physics and equations accept parameters and variables as input data.

Specifying Physics Interface Settings

Each physics interface includes nodes for specifying all input data for a specific physics in a model:

•	Material properties and material models

•	Boundary and physics interface conditions

•	Equations (for equation-based modeling)

•	Initial conditions

In addition, you can specify weak form contributions and element types for additional flexibility.

Specifically, the settings are available on the following parts of the geometry:

•

Domains

•	Boundaries

•

Edges

•

Points

•	Additional properties that are independent of the geometry

Not all of these options are available for all geometry types and physics interfaces.

Physics Feature Nodes by Space Dimension

The physics feature nodes indicate the geometric entity level (domains, boundaries, edges, points, or pairs) based on the space dimension of the Component (see Table 3-3). The nodes also correspond to The Graphics Window Toolbar Buttons, some of which are also based on space dimension.

See Physics Exclusive and Contributing Node Types and Physics Node Status for examples of other differences to how the nodes display in the Model Builder.

Table 3-3: Physics Feature Nodes by Space Dimension

Name	3D	2D and 2D Axisymmetric	1D and 1D Axisymmetric
Domain level
Domain level, default node
Boundary level
Boundary level, default node
Boundary level, Pairs
Point level			—
Edge level		—	—

• The Physics Interfaces • Physics Interface Default Nodes • Physics Interface Node Context Menu Layout • Physics Node Status