Domain Decomposition Methods in Electrothermomechanical Coupling Problems

Summary

In this contribution, we are concerned with electrothermomechanical coupling problems as they arise in the modeling and simulation of high power electronic devices. In particular, we are faced with a hierarchy of coupled physical effects in so far as electrical energy is converted to Joule heat causing heat stresses that have an impact on the mechanical behavior of the devices and may lead to mechanical damage. Moreover, there are structural coupling effects due to the sandwich-like construction of the devices featuring multiple layers of specific materials with different thermal and mechanical properties. The latter motivates the application of domain decomposition techniques on nonmatching grids based on individual finite element discretizations of the substructures. We will address in detail the modeling aspects of the hierarchy of coupling phenomena as well as the discretization-related couplings in the numerical simulation of the operating behavior of the devices.