CST Studio Suite 2023

Low Frequency Simulation

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Workflow &
Solver Overview

Version 2023.0 - 8/3/2022

 Copyright
© 1998–2022 Dassault Systemes Deutschland GmbH
CST Studio Suite is a Dassault Systèmes product.
All rights reserved.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. The

software described in this document is furnished under a license
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2
 Table of contents
Chapter 1 – Introduction........................................................................................................ 6
Welcome ........................................................................................................................... 6
How to Get Started Quickly ............................................................................................ 6
What is CST EM Studio? ............................................................................................... 6
Who Uses CST EM Studio? ........................................................................................... 7
CST EM Studio Key Features............................................................................................ 7
General .......................................................................................................................... 7
Structure Modeling ......................................................................................................... 7
Electrostatic Solver ........................................................................................................ 8
Magnetostatic Solver ..................................................................................................... 8
Stationary Current Solver ............................................................................................... 9
LF Frequency Domain Solver......................................................................................... 9
LF Time Domain Solver ............................................................................................... 10
Partial RLC Solver ....................................................................................................... 11
Drift-Diffusion Solver .................................................................................................... 11

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

CST Design Studio View .............................................................................................. 11
SAM (System and Assembly Modeling) ....................................................................... 11
Visualization and Secondary Result Calculation .......................................................... 11
Result Export ............................................................................................................... 12
Automation................................................................................................................... 12
About This Manual........................................................................................................... 12
Document Conventions ................................................................................................ 12
Your Feedback ............................................................................................................ 13
Chapter 2 – Simulation Workflow ........................................................................................ 14
The Structure ............................................................................................................... 14
Create a New Project ................................................................................................... 15
Open the QuickStart Guide .......................................................................................... 16
Define the Background Material ................................................................................... 17
Model the Structure...................................................................................................... 17
Define Coils ................................................................................................................. 21
Define Boundary Conditions ........................................................................................ 27
Define Symmetry Conditions ........................................................................................ 28
Generate and Visualize a Tetrahedral Mesh ................................................................ 30
Run the Tetrahedral Magnetostatic Solver ................................................................... 33
Analyze the Results of the Tetrahedral Solver ............................................................. 35
Visualize a Hexahedral Mesh ....................................................................................... 40
Start the Hexahedral Solver ......................................................................................... 42
Analyze the Results of the Hexahedral Solver ............................................................. 44

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 Create a Planar Mesh .................................................................................................. 46
Start the Planar Solver ................................................................................................. 47
Analyze the Results of the Planar Solver ..................................................................... 49
Accessing the Single-Value Results ............................................................................. 51
Parameterization and Automatic Optimization of the Structure..................................... 51
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 59
Chapter 3 – Solver Overview .............................................................................................. 60
Solvers and Sources ....................................................................................................... 60
Magnetostatic Solver ....................................................................................................... 62
Nonlinear ferromagnetic Materials ............................................................................... 62
Inductance Calculation ................................................................................................. 63
Current or Voltage Coils ............................................................................................... 63
Coil Segments ............................................................................................................. 64
Coil Segments from Solids ........................................................................................... 66
Permanent Magnets..................................................................................................... 66
Current Paths............................................................................................................... 67
Homogeneous Magnetic Field...................................................................................... 68

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

1D Solver Results ........................................................................................................ 68
Electrostatic Solver .......................................................................................................... 68
Open Boundaries ......................................................................................................... 68
Potential Sources ......................................................................................................... 68
Field Grading ............................................................................................................... 69
Charge Sources ........................................................................................................... 70
Boundary Potentials ..................................................................................................... 71
Stationary Current Solver ................................................................................................ 71
Parameterized Electrical Conductivity .......................................................................... 71
Current Ports ............................................................................................................... 72
Contact Properties ....................................................................................................... 73
1D Solver Results ........................................................................................................ 74
LF Frequency Domain Solver .......................................................................................... 74
Full Wave and Magnetoquasistatic Simulator ............................................................... 75
Electroquasistatic Simulator ......................................................................................... 77
LF Time Domain Solver ................................................................................................... 78
Magnetoquasistatic Simulator ...................................................................................... 78
Electroquasistatic Simulator ......................................................................................... 78
Workflow ...................................................................................................................... 79
Signal Definition ........................................................................................................... 79
Excitations: Assigning Signals to Sources .................................................................... 80
Reference Signal ......................................................................................................... 82

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 Rigid Body Motion Definition ........................................................................................ 82
Monitor Definition ......................................................................................................... 86
Starting the Simulation ................................................................................................. 90
Coupled Simulations with CST MPhysics Studio .......................................................... 91
Equivalent Circuit EMS/DS Co-Simulation ................................................................... 92
State Space Model....................................................................................................... 92
Electrical Machine Task ............................................................................................... 93
Partial RLC Solver ........................................................................................................... 93
Drift-Diffusion Solver........................................................................................................ 93
Boundary Conditions .................................................................................................... 94
Potential Sources and Boundary Potentials ................................................................. 94
Doping Density ............................................................................................................ 94
Semiconductor Material Models ................................................................................... 95
Chapter 4 – Finding Further Information ............................................................................. 96
The QuickStart Guide................................................................................................... 96
Online Documentation.................................................................................................. 96
Tutorials and Examples................................................................................................ 97

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Technical Support ........................................................................................................ 97
Macro Language Documentation ................................................................................. 97
History of Changes ...................................................................................................... 97

5
 Chapter 1 – Introduction
Welcome
Welcome to CST EM Studio®, the powerful and easy-to-use electromagnetic field
simulation software. This program combines a user-friendly interface with unsurpassed
simulation performance.

CST EM Studio is part of CST Studio Suite®. Please refer to the CST Studio Suite
Getting Started manual first. The following explanations assume that you already
installed the software and familiarized yourself with the basic concepts of the user
interface.

How to Get Started Quickly

We recommend that you proceed as follows:

1. Read the CST Studio Suite Getting Started manual.

2. Work through this document carefully. It provides all the basic information
necessary to understand the advanced documentation.
3. Look at the examples provided in the Component Library (File: Component
Library  Examples). Especially the examples which are tagged as Tutorial
provide detailed information of a specific simulation workflow. Press the
Help button of the individual component to get to the help page of this

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

component. Please note that all these examples are designed to give you a
basic insight into a particular application domain. Real-world applications
are typically much more complex and harder to understand if you are not
familiar with the basic concepts.
4. Start with your own first example. Choose a reasonably simple example, which will
allow you to become familiar with the software quickly.
5. After you have worked through your first example, contact technical support for hints
on possible improvements to achieve even more efficient usage of the software.

What is CST EM Studio?

CST EM Studio is a fully featured software package for electromagnetic analysis and
design of electrostatic, magnetostatic, stationary current and low-frequency devices. It
simplifies the process of creating the structure by providing a powerful graphical solid
modeling front end, which is based on the ACIS modeling kernel. After the model has
been constructed, a fully automatic meshing procedure is applied before a simulation
engine is started.

A key feature of CST EM Studio is the Method on Demand approach, which allows using
the solver or mesh type that is best suited to a particular problem. Most solvers support
two different meshing strategies:

 Classic tetrahedral meshes, which provide an explicit representation of the

geometry and material interface by a surface mesh. Thus, material interfaces are
explicitly resolved by the mesh. Curvilinear mesh elements are especially suited
to discretize curved geometries. The geometry resolution is continually improved
during an adaptive mesh refinement using the True Geometry Adaptation
technique.
 Hexahedral grids in combination with the Perfect Boundary Approximation
(PBA®) feature. With hexahedral (Cartesian) meshes, interfaces of materials
and solids are not represented by surface mesh cells. Therefore, the meshing
algorithm is very robust, and meshes can be generated even for very complex

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 CAD geometries. The PBA feature significantly increases the accuracy of the
simulation in comparison to conventional Cartesian mesh simulators.

The software contains five different solvers that best fit their particular applications:
 Electrostatic solver
 Magnetostatic solver
 Stationary current solver
 LF Frequency Domain solver
o magnetoquasistatic
o electroquasistatic
o full-wave
 LF Time Domain solver
o magnetoquasistatic
o electroquasistatic
If you are unsure which solver best suits your needs, please consult the online help or
contact your local sales office for further assistance.

Simulation results from each solver can be visualized with a variety of different options.
Again, a strongly interactive interface will help you quickly achieve the desired insight
into your device.

The last – but certainly not least – outstanding feature is the full parameterization of the

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

structure modeler, which enables the use of variables in the definition of your
component. In combination with the built-in optimizer and parameter sweep tools, CST
EM Studio is capable of both the analysis and the design of electromagnetic devices.

Who Uses CST EM Studio?

Anyone who is looking for a solution for a static or low-frequency electromagnetic
problems, can use CST EM Studio. The program is especially suited to the fast, efficient
analysis and design of components like actuators, insulators, shielding problems,
sensors, transformers, electrical machines, etc. Since the underlying method is a
general 3D approach, CST EM Studio can solve virtually any static and low-frequency
field problem.

CST EM Studio Key Features

The following list gives you an overview of CST EM Studio's main features. Note that
not all of these features may be available to you because of license restrictions. Contact
a sales office for more information.

General
 Native graphical user interface based on Windows 10, Windows Server 2016
and Windows Server 2019
 The structure can be viewed either as a 3D model or as a schematic. The latter
allows for easy coupling of EM simulation with circuit simulation.
 Various independent types of solver strategies (based on hexahedral as well as
tetrahedral meshes) allow accurate results with a high performance for all kind
of low frequency applications.
 For specific solvers, highly advanced numerical techniques offer features like
PERFECT BOUNDARY APPROXIMATION (PBA)® for hexahedral grids and
curved and higher order elements for tetrahedral meshes.

Structure Modeling
 Advanced ACIS-based, parametric solid modeling front end with excellent
structure visualization

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  Feature-based hybrid modeler allows quick structural changes.
 Import of 3D CAD data from ACIS SAT (e.g. AutoCAD®), ACIS SAB, Autodesk
Inventor®, IGES, VDA-FS, STEP, Pro/ENGINEER®, CATIA®, Siemens NX,
Parasolid, Solid Edge, SolidWorks, CoventorWare®, Mecadtron®, NASTRAN,
STL or OBJ files
 Import of 2D CAD data from DXF™, GDSII and Gerber RS274X, RS274D files
 Import of EDA data from design flows including Cadence Allegro® / APD® /
SiP®, Mentor Graphics HyperLynx®, Zuken CR-5000® / CR-8000®, IPC-2581
and ODB++® (e.g. Altium Designer, Mentor Graphics Expedition / PADS /
Boardstation®, CADSTAR®, Visula®)
 Import of OpenAccess and GDSII-based integrated-circuit layouts via CST Chip
Interface
 Import of PCB designs originating from CST PCB Studio®
 Import of 2D and 3D sub models
 Import of Agilent ADS® layouts
 Import of Sonnet® EM models
 Import of a visible human model dataset or other voxel datasets
 Export of CAD data by ACIS SAT, ACIS SAB, IGES, STEP, NASTRAN, STL,
DXF™, GDSII, Gerber or POV files
 Parameterization for imported CAD files
 Material database
 Structure templates for simplified problem setup

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Electrostatic Solver
 Isotropic and (coordinate-dependent) anisotropic material properties
 Support of hexahedral meshes as well as linear and curved tetrahedral meshes
 Sources: potentials, charges on conductors (floating potentials), uniform volume-
and surface-charge densities, capacitive field grading
 Force calculation
 Capacitance calculation
 Electric / magnetic / tangential / normal / open / fixed-potential boundary-
conditions
 Perfect conducting sheets and wires
 Discrete edge capacitive elements at any location in the structure
 Adaptive mesh refinement in 3D
 Higher order representation of the solution with tetrahedral mesh
 Automatic parameter studies using built-in parameter sweep tool
 Automatic structure optimization for arbitrary goals using built-in optimizer
 Network distributed computing for optimizations, parameter sweeps and remote
calculations
 Coupled simulations with Mechanical Solver from CST MPhysics Studio®
 Equivalent Circuit EMS/DS Co-Simulation for constant material properties

Magnetostatic Solver
 3D- and 2D1- problem support.
 Isotropic and (coordinate-dependent) anisotropic material properties
 Nonlinear ferromagnetic material properties
 Laminated material properties
 Support of hexahedral meshes as well as linear and curved tetrahedral meshes
 Sources: coils, coil segments, including those created from solids, linear and
non-linear permanent magnets, current paths, external magnetic fields,
stationary current fields, current ports
 Force and force density calculation

1 The 2D solver supports rotationally and translationally symmetric problems.

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  Apparent and incremental inductance calculation
 Flux linkages
 Electric / magnetic / tangential / normal / open / cylindrical subvolume boundary-
conditions
 Rotational periodicity for 2D and 3D problems
 Adaptive mesh refinement for 2D and 3D solver
 Higher order representation of the solution with tetrahedral and triangular
meshes
 Automatic parameter studies using built-in parameter sweep tool
 Automatic structure optimization for arbitrary goals using built-in optimizer
 Network distributed computing for optimizations, parameter sweeps and remote
calculations
 Coupled simulations with Mechanical Solver from CST MPhysics Studio
 Equivalent Circuit EMS/DS Co-Simulation for constant and nonlinear material
properties

Stationary Current Solver

 Isotropic and (coordinate-dependent) anisotropic material properties
 Nonlinear electrical conductivity properties
 Temperature dependent materials with coupling to CST MPhysics Studio
 Electric contact resistance
 Support of hexahedral meshes as well as linear and curved tetrahedral meshes
 Sources: current paths, potentials, current ports, coil segments, including those

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

created from solids
 Conductance calculation
 Discrete edge resistances at any location in the structure
 Perfect conducting sheets and wires
 Electric / magnetic / normal / tangential / cylindrical subvolume boundary-
conditions
 Adaptive mesh refinement in 3D
 Higher order representation of the solution with tetrahedral mesh
 Automatic parameter studies using built-in parameter sweep tool
 Automatic structure optimization for arbitrary goals using built-in optimizer
 Network distributed computing for optimizations, parameter sweeps and remote
calculations
 Uni- and bi-directionally coupled simulations with the Thermal and CHT Solvers
from CST MPhysics Studio
 Equivalent Circuit EMS/DS Co-Simulation for constant material properties

LF Frequency Domain Solver

 Isotropic and (coordinate-dependent) anisotropic material properties
 Nonlinear material properties (B(H)) and linear equivalent permeability
computation
 Temperature dependent nonlinear (B(H)) and linear materials with coupling to
CST MPhysics Studio
 Support of hexahedral meshes as well as linear and curved tetrahedral meshes
 Electroquasistatic analysis
 Magnetoquasistatic analysis (eddy current approximation)
 Magnetoquasistatic broadband analysis (eddy current approximation)
 Full wave analysis
 Sources for electroquasistatic analysis: potentials
 Sources for full wave and magnetoquasistatic analysis: coils, coil segments,
including those created from solids, current ports, current paths, voltage paths,
external magnetic source fields
 Impedance calculation

9
  Sources for magnetoquasistatic broadband analysis: coils, coil segments,
including those created from solids, current ports
 Fast and stable broadband calculation from zero frequency to given maximal
frequency for:
o impedance, inductance, resistance, DC-resistance and conductance
matrices
o source parameters including flux linkages and induced voltages
o energies and losses
 Authoring of Reduced Order Models as Functional Mockup Units according to
FMI standard
 Fast frequency sweep in the broadband solver regime
 Force calculation
 Perfectly conducting sheets and wires
 Lumped R, L, C elements at any location in the structure
 Surface impedance model for good conducting metals
 Electric / magnetic / tangential / normal / open boundary-conditions
 Adaptive mesh refinement in 3D
 Higher order representation of the solution with tetrahedral mesh
 Automatic parameter studies using built-in parameter sweep tool
 Automatic structure optimization for arbitrary goals using built-in optimizer
 Network distributed computing for optimizations, parameter sweeps and remote
calculations
 Uni-directionally coupled simulations with the Thermal and CHT solvers from

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

CST MPhysics Studio for both magnetoquasistatic and electroquasistatic
analysis
 Bi-directionally coupled simulations with the Thermal and CHT solvers from CST
MPhysics Studio for magnetoquasistatic analysis
 Coupled simulations with SIMULIA Abaqus

LF Time Domain Solver

 Isotropic and (coordinate-dependent) anisotropic material properties
 Magnetoquasistatic analysis (eddy current approximation), 3D- and 2D2-problem
support
 Electroquasistatic analysis
 Nonlinear material properties (B(H), E(J), J(H, T))
 Recoil model for nonlinear hard magnetic material properties (permanent
magnets)
 Iron Loss computation
 Support of linear and curved tetrahedral meshes
 Sources for the magnetoquasistatic analysis: coils, coil segments, including
those created from solids, current ports, current paths, voltage paths, permanent
magnets, external magnetic source field
 Sources for electroquasistatic analysis: potentials
 Magnetoquasistatic analysis: perfect conducting sheets and wires
 Electric / magnetic / tangential / normal / open / cylindrical subvolume boundary-
conditions
 Higher order representation of the solution with tetrahedral mesh
 User defined excitation signals and signal database
 Adaptive time stepping
 Dedicated time stepping algorithm for time periodic problems
 Automatic source parameter monitors for current ports and coils including flux
linkages and induced voltages

2 The 2D solver supports rotationally and translationally symmetric problems.

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  Rigid body motion for 2D and 3D models with nested rotations and translation
 Steady state detection for 2D models
 Periodic boundary condition (translation) and cylindrical subvolume (rotation)
 Demagnetization monitors
 Network distributed computing remote calculations
 Uni-directionally coupled simulations with the Thermal and CHT solvers from
CST MPhysics Studio
 Coupled simulations with SIMULIA Abaqus

Partial RLC Solver

 Calculation of equivalent circuit parameters (partial inductances, resistances,
and capacitances) and optional SPICE export
 For a detailed description consult the online documentation

Drift-Diffusion Solver
 Calculation of stationary electron and hole distribution within a semiconductor
 Calculation of mid-gap potential
 Solid constant doping densities
 Computation of derived quantities: quasi-Fermi potentials, plasma frequency
 Adaptive mesh refinement
 Computation of junction capacitance
 Carrier generation & recombination models
 Import of 3D power loss fields
 Improved current density visualization

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

 Support of multi-materials
 For a detailed description consult the online documentation
Note: some solvers or features may be available for hexahedral and some may be available
for tetrahedral meshes only.

CST Design Studio View

 Schematic view that shows the circuit level description of the current CST EM
Studio project
 Allows additional wiring, including active and passive circuit elements as well as
more complex circuit models coming from measured data (e.g. Touchstone or
IBIS files), analytical or semi-analytical descriptions, or from simulated results
(e.g. CST Microwave Studio, CST Cable Studio or CST PCB Studio projects)
 Offers many different circuit simulation methods
 All schematic elements as well as all defined parameters of the connected CST
EM Studio project can be parameterized and are ready for optimization runs.
 Geometry creation by assembling the components on the schematic in 3D
 Flexible and powerful hierarchical task concept offering nested parameter sweep
/ optimizer setups

SAM (System and Assembly Modeling)

 3D representations for individual components
 Automatic project creation by assembling the schematic’s elements into a full 3D
representation
 Manage project variations derived from one common 3D geometry setup
 Coupled multi-physics simulations by using different combinations of coupled
Circuit/EM/thermal/mechanical projects

Visualization and Secondary Result Calculation

 Multiple 1D result view support
 Online visualization of intermediate results during transient simulations
 Import and visualization of external xy-data

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  Copy & paste of xy-datasets
 Fast access to parametric data via interactive tuning sliders
 Automatic parametric 1D result storage
 Various field visualization options in 2D and 3D for electric fields, magnetic fields,
potentials, current densities, energy densities, etc.
 Animation of field distributions
 Display of source definitions in 3D
 Display of nonlinear material curves in xy-plots
 Display of material distribution for nonlinear materials
 Display and integration of 2D and 3D fields along arbitrary curves
 Integration of 3D fields across arbitrary faces
 Hierarchical result templates for automated extraction and visualization of
arbitrary results from various simulation runs. These data can also be used for
the definition of optimization goals.

Result Export
 Export of result data such as fields, curves, etc.
 Export of result data as ASCII files
 Export screen shots of result field plots

Automation
 Powerful VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) compatible macro language
including editor and macro debugger
 OLE automation for seamless integration into the Windows environment

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

(Microsoft Office®, MATLAB®, AutoCAD®, MathCAD®, Windows Scripting Host,
etc.)

About This Manual

This manual is primarily designed to enable a quick start of CST EM Studio. It is not
intended to be a complete reference guide to all the available features but will give you
an overview of key concepts. Understanding these concepts will allow you to learn how
to use the software efficiently with the help of the online documentation.

The main part of the manual is the Simulation Workflow (Chapter 2), which will guide
you through the most important features of CST EM Studio. We strongly encourage you
to study this chapter carefully.

Document Conventions
 Buttons that should be pressed within dialog boxes are always written in italics,
e.g. OK.

 Key combinations are always joined with a plus (+) sign. Ctrl+S means that you
should hold down the “Ctrl” key while pressing the “S” key.

 The program’s features can be accessed through a Ribbon command bar at the
top of the main window. The commands are organized in a series of tabs within
the Ribbon. In this document, a command is printed as follows: Tab name: Group
name  Button name  Command name. This means that you should activate
the proper tab first and then press the button Command name, which belongs to
the group Group name. If a keyboard shortcut exists, it is shown in brackets after
the command.
Example: View: Visibility  Wire Frame (Ctrl+W)

12
  The project data is accessible through the navigation tree on the left side of the
application’s main window. An item of the navigation tree is referenced in the
following way: NT: Tree folder  Sub folder  Tree item.
Example: NT: 2D/3D Results  E-Field [Es]  Abs

Your Feedback
We are constantly striving to improve the quality of our software documentation. If you
have any comments regarding the documentation, please send them to your support
center: 3DS.com/Support.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

13
 Chapter 2 – Simulation Workflow
The following example shows a fairly simple magnetostatic simulation. Studying this
example carefully will allow you to become familiar with many standard operations that
are necessary to perform a simulation within CST EM Studio.

Go through the following explanations carefully even if you are not planning to use the
software for magnetostatic computations. Only a small portion of the example is specific
to this particular application type. Most of the considerations are quite general to all
solvers and application domains.

At the end of this example, you will find some remarks concerning the differences
between the typical sources and simulation procedures for electrostatic, stationary
current, magnetostatic, and low-frequency calculations.

The following explanations always describe the “long” way to open a particular dialog
box or to launch a particular command. Whenever available, the corresponding toolbar
item will be displayed next to the command description. In order to limit the space in this
manual, the shortest way to activate a particular command (i.e. either by pressing a
shortcut key or by activating the command from the context menu) is omitted. You should
regularly open the context menu to check the available commands for the currently
active mode.

The Structure

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

In the example, you will model a simple sealed transformer consisting of two coils and
an iron core in a cylindrical box. Then you will set up the simulation to compute the
magnetic field distribution and the inductances. The following picture shows the current
structure of interest (it has been sliced open purely to aid visualization). The picture has
produced using the POV export option in CST EM Studio.

Before you start modeling the structure, let us spend a few moments discussing how to
describe this structure efficiently.

CST EM Studio allows you to define the properties of the background material. Anything
you do not fill with a particular material will automatically be considered as the
background material. For this structure, it is sufficient to model only the cylinder box, the
iron core and the two coils. The background properties will be set to vacuum.

Your method of describing the structure should therefore be as follows:

1. Create the cylindrical box.

2. Model the iron core inside the box.
3. Define the coils.

14
 Create a New Project
After launching the CST Studio Suite, you will enter the start screen showing you a list
of recently opened projects and allowing you to specify the application which suits your
requirements best. The easiest way to get started is to configure a project template,
which sets the basic settings that are meaningful for your typical application. Therefore,
click on the New Template button in the New Project from Template section.

Next, you should choose the application area, which is Statics and Low Frequency for
the example in this tutorial and then select the workflow by double-clicking on the
corresponding entry.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

For the sealed transformer, please select Power Electronics  Transformers/Chokes 
M-Static .

At last, you are requested to select the units which fit your application best. For the
sealed transformer all dimensions will be given in cm. Therefore, select cm from the
Dimensions drop-down list. For the specific application in this tutorial, the other settings
can be left unchanged. After clicking the Next button, you can give the project template
a name and review a summary of your initial settings.

15
 Finally, click the Finish button to save the project template and to create a new project
with appropriate settings. CST EM Studio will be launched automatically due to the
choice of the application area Statics and Low Frequency.

Please note: When you click again on File: New and Recent you will see that the
recently defined template appears below the New Project from Template section. For
additional projects in the same application area, you can simply click on this template
entry to launch CST EM Studio with useful basic settings. It is not necessary to define a
new template each time. You are now able to start the software with reasonable initial
settings quickly with just one click on the corresponding template.

Please note: All settings made for a project template can be modified later on during
the construction of your model. For example, the units can be modified in the units dialog
box (Home: Settings  Units ) and the solver type can be selected in the Home:
Simulation  Setup Solver drop-down list.

Open the QuickStart Guide

An interesting feature of the online help system is the QuickStart Guide, an electronic
assistant that will guide you through your simulation. If it does not show up automatically,
you can open this assistant by selecting QuickStart Guide from the Help contents drop-
down menu in the upper right corner.

The following dialog box should be positioned in the upper right corner of the main view:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

As the project template has already set the solver type, units and background material,
the Magnetostatic Analysis is preselected, and some entries are marked as done. The
red arrow always indicates the next step necessary for your problem definition. You do
not have to follow the steps in this order, but we recommend you follow this guide at the
beginning to ensure that all necessary steps have been completed.

Look at the dialog box as you follow the various steps in this example. You may close
the assistant at any time. Even if you re-open the window later, it will always indicate the
next required step.

If you are unsure of how to access a certain operation, click on the corresponding line.
The QuickStart Guide will then either run an animation showing the location of the
related menu entry or open the corresponding help page.

16
 Define the Background Material
As discussed above, the structure will be described within a vacuum world with some
surrounding space. The project template has set some typical default values already.
Select Modeling: Materials  Background to check or modify the background material
settings. For this example enter 3 cm for all directions by checking Apply in all directions
and enter the Distance value.

Confirm by clicking the OK button. (Remember: according to the predefined unit, all
geometric settings are in cm.)

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Model the Structure
First, create a cylinder along the z-axis of the coordinate system by the following steps:

1. Select the cylinder creation tool from Modeling: Shapes  Cylinder .

2. Press the Shift+Tab key, and enter the center point (0,0) in the xy-plane before
pressing the Enter key to store this setting.
3. Press the Tab key again, enter the radius 5 and press the Enter key.
4. Press the Tab key, enter the height as 7 and press the Enter key.
5. Press Esc to create a solid cylinder (skip the definition of the inner radius).
6. In the shape dialog box, enter “cylinder box” in the Name field.
7. Select component1 from the Component drop-down list.
8. Select [New Material] from the Material drop-down list. The Material dialog box
opens where you should enter the material name “Iron”, select Normal properties
(Type) and set the material properties Epsilon = 1.0 and Mu = 1000. Now you can
select a color and close the dialog box by clicking OK.
9. Back in the cylinder creation dialog box, click OK to create the cylinder.
10. Finally, save the structure by selecting File: Save (Ctrl+S) and entering a name, e.g.
"Transformer.cst" in a folder of your choice.

The result of all these operations should look like the picture below. You can press the
Space bar to zoom to a full screen view.

17
 Please note that you can switch on or off the multicolored axes or the axes at the origin
in the View Options dialog box (View: Options  View Options (Alt+V) ).

The next step is to shell the cylinder. Select the cylinder in the navigation tree (NT:
Components  component1  cylinder box) and open the shell dialog by selecting
Modeling: Tools  Shape Tools  Shell Solid or Thicken Sheet. Enter the Thickness
0.5 and select Inside as the direction.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

To observe the result, activate the cutting plane view via View: Sectional View  Cutting
Plane  Cutting Plane (Shift+C) . You can adjust the cutting plane settings either by
using the Up/Down arrow keys or by entering the Cutting Plane Properties dialog box
(View: Sectional View  Cutting Plane  Cutting Plane Properties ).

To look into the box, you might have to rotate the view. Activate the rotation mode by
selecting View: Mouse Control  Rotate  Smart (Mouse Pointer) . Then press the
left mouse button and move the mouse until the view looks like this:

It is also possible to hold down the Ctrl button to activate the rotation mode for as long
as Ctrl is pressed.

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 The next step is to create a second cylinder inside the box. The center of the new
cylinder’s base should align with the center of the box's inside face. To this end, first
align the local coordinate system (WCS) with the lower inside z face of the box:

1. Select Modeling: Picks  Picks .

2. Double-click on the box’s lower inside z-plane. Note: Pickable faces or edges are
automatically highlighted, when the mouse is in an appropriate position. They
sometimes hide other objects. With the Tab key it is possible to switch through the
relevant objects until the desired face is marked for picking. The selected face should
now be highlighted:

3. Now choose Modeling: WCS  Align WCS (Shortcut: W).

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

4. Select the cylinder creation tool Modeling: Shapes  Cylinder .
5. Press the Shift+Tab key and enter the center point (0,0) in the uv-plane and press
the Enter key.
6. Press the Tab key again and enter a radius of 0.8 and press the Enter key.
7. Select Modeling: Picks  Pick Points  Pick Circle Center .
8. Set the cylinder's height by picking the highlighted circle of the upper inner face of
the box with a double-click. You might have to rotate the structure a little bit to get a
better view:

9. Press Esc to create a solid cylinder (skip the definition of the inner radius).
10. In the shape dialog box, enter “iron core” in the Name field.
11. Select the component “component1” from the component list.
12. Select the material “Iron” from the material list.

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 13. Click the OK button.

The result of these operations should look like this:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Sharp edges are, in general, responsible for field singularities. Therefore, we will blend
the edges of the iron core and the cylinder box. Before we can do this, the two bodies
have to be united. Thus, select the cylinder box (either in the navigation tree or by
double-clicking on it in the main view). Then choose Modeling: Tools  Boolean  Add
and select the iron core. Confirm the operation by pressing the Enter key. The iron
core entry will vanish from the navigation tree and only the cylinder box remains in the
NT: Components  component1 folder.

Now you can select the edges to blend. All inner edges shall be blended with radius 1,
the outer edges of the cylinder box with radius 0.5. Hence, activate the pick edge tool
Modeling: Picks  Picks  Pick Edge (Shortcut: E) and pick all inner edges (multiple
activations of the pick edge tool might be necessary, you can see the selected edges in
the lower left corner):

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 Finally, enter the Blend Edges dialog box via Modeling: Tools  Blend  Blend Edges
and enter the radius 1.0. Confirm this setting by pressing OK. Next, pick the two outer
edges of the cylinder box.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Open the Blend Edges dialog again and enter the radius 0.5. Leave the dialog via the
OK button. The cylinder box should look now as depicted below:

Looking at the QuickStart Guide, you will see that now it is time to define the sources for
the magnetic field simulation.

Define Coils
In CST EM Studio, a coil can be defined as an a-priori known current- or voltage-
distribution which is constant over the cross-section of the coil body for this example.
Consequently, the coil represents the equivalent distribution of the current in a realistic
coil with many turns, where small-scale variations are averaged out.

The creation of a coil is quite similar to the definition of a solid by curves. First, you have
to move the working coordinate system to the right position:

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 1. Select Modeling: Picks  Pick Points  Pick Face Center (shortcut: A).

2. Double-click on the upper outside face of the box as highlighted.

3. Select Modeling: Picks  Pick Points  Pick Face Center again.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

4. Double-click on the lower outside face of the box as highlighted.
5. Select Modeling: Picks  Pick Points  Mean Last Two Points
(Ctrl+Shift+M).
6. Select Modeling: WCS  Align WCS .

Now, the working coordinate system should be placed as depicted in the next figure. At
any time, the Working Plane can be enabled or disabled using View: Visibility  Working
Plane (Alt+W).

To define the path of the first coil, carry out the following:

1. Select Modeling: Curves  Curves  Circle .

2. Press the Shift+Tab key and enter the center point (0,0) in the uv-plane. Then press
the Enter key to store this setting.
3. Press the Tab key again, and enter the radius 2.

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 4. In the circle dialog box, enter “coil path 1” in the Name field.
5. Click OK to create the circle.

The path for the second coil is created in the same way:

1. Select Modeling: Curves  Curves  Circle .

2. Press the Shift+Tab key, and enter the center point (0,0) in the uv-plane before
pressing the Enter key to store this setting.
3. Press the Tab key again, and enter the radius 4.
4. In the circle dialog box, enter “coil path 2” in the Name field.
5. Select [New Curve] from the Curve drop-down list.
6. Click OK to create the circle.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Please note: We put all path and profile curves into separate Curve folders just to
simplify blending the coils’ edges afterwards.

To define the profile paths of both coils, you first need to rotate the working coordinate
system around the v-axis:

1. Press Shift+V or select Modeling: WCS  Transform WCS and activate the Rotate
control in the Transform Local Coordinate System dialog box and enter 90 for the
V component.

For the definition of the first profile curve, perform the following steps:

1. Select Modeling: Curves  Curves  Rectangle .

2. Press the Tab key, and enter the first point (-2.5, 1) in the uv-plane before pressing
the Enter key to store this setting.
3. Press the Tab key again, and enter the second point (2.5, 2.5) and press the Enter
key.
4. In the rectangle dialog box, enter “profile path 1” in the Name field.
5. Select [New Curve] from the Curve drop-down list.

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 6. Click OK to create the rectangle.

The second profile can be created as follows:

1. Select Modeling: Curves  Curves  Rectangle .

2. Press the Tab key, and enter the first point (-2, 2.7) in the uv-plane before pressing
the Enter key to store this setting.
3. Press the Tab key again, and enter the second point (2, 4.2) and press the Enter
key.
4. In the rectangle dialog box, enter “profile path 2” in the Name field.
5. Select [New Curve] from the Curve drop-down list.
6. Click OK to create the rectangle.

Now your model should look like the one depicted below. You may need to click on the
components folder in the navigation tree if only the curve that was created last is still
highlighted.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Like for the cylinder box, it is meaningful to blend the coil edges as well. This can be
done by blending the corners of the profile paths. Select NT: Curves curve3 profile
path 1 and pick its four corners (Modeling: Picks  Picks . (shortcut: P)). Now choose
Modeling: Curves  Curves  Blend Curve . The Blend Curve dialog box will pop up.
Enter the radius 0.3 and confirm this setting by pressing OK.

Next, the corners of the profile path 2 rectangle need to be blended in completely the
same manner. Select NT: Curves curve4 profile path 2, choose Modeling: Picks 
Picks .repeatedly and pick the four corners of the selected rectangle. Next, use
Modeling: Curves  Curve Tools  Blend Curve to blend the corners with the radius
0.3. The profile curves should then look as depicted below:

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 Finally, the coils can be created from the profile and path curves:

1. Select Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil  Coil .

2. Move the mouse cursor to “profile path 1” until it the entire curve is highlighted (or
select “curve3” in the navigation tree). Then double-click on it in the main view to
select it (the inner profile curve).
3. Move the mouse cursor to “coil path 1" and select it by double-clicking.
4. In the Define Coil dialog box, enter “coil 1” in the Name field, select the type
Current, enter 1 A for the current value and 1000 in the Number of turns field. (Do
not change the Conductor Type, Phase or Resistance values.) Coils can be
gathered into so-called coil groups. For more information about this, please refer
to the online help.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

5. Click OK to create the coil.

Now your model should look like the one depicted below. You may need to click on the
components folder in the navigation tree if the coil is not highlighted.

The same procedure can be applied for the second coil:

1. Select Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil  Coil from the main menu.

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 2. Move the mouse cursor to “profile path 2” until it is highlighted. Then double-click
to select it.
3. Move the mouse cursor to “coil path 2,” and select it by double-clicking.
4. In the Define Coil dialog box, enter “coil 2” in the Name field, 1 A for the value of
the current and 800 in the Number of turns field.

5. Click OK to create the coil.

Congratulations! You have just created your first structure within CST EM Studio. The
view should now look like this after the working plane (View: Visibility  Working Plane
(Alt+W) ) has been switched off:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Please note: As the project template has set some default boundary conditions
applicable in most use cases, the corresponding entry in the QuickStart Guide is already
checked. Nevertheless, you should always check if the model can be simplified, e.g. by
symmetry conditions. We will discuss this in the next section.

26
 The following gallery shows some views of the structure using different visualization
options:

Shaded view, Shaded view, Wireframe view,

(deactivated working (cutting plane active) (View: Visibility 
plane iron material Wireframe )
properties: 50%
transparency)

Define Boundary Conditions

The simulation of this structure is performed only within the bounding box enclosing the
structure together with some background material. The space occupied by the structure
and background material is called the "computational domain" in the sequel.

Note that the restriction to a bounded computational domain is artificial for our example

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

(keeping in mind the transformer structure in open space). However, in this simple case,
the magnetic flux is concentrated in the core material. Therefore, the artificial boundary
will not considerably disturb the solution even though the added space around the
structure is not very large.

In order to get a well-defined problem, you must specify the behavior of the field at the
boundary of the computational domain by setting a boundary condition for each plane
(Xmin/Xmax/Ymin/Ymax/Zmin/Zmax).

The boundary conditions are specified in a dialog box which you can bring up by
choosing Simulation: Settings  Boundaries .

27
 While the boundary dialog box is open, the boundary conditions will be visualized in the
structure view as in the picture above. You can change boundary conditions within the
dialog box or interactively in the view by double-clicking on the corresponding boundary
symbol, and then select the appropriate type from the context menu.

The project template has already set "electric (Et = 0)" boundary conditions in every
direction. You do not need to change the default setting.

Background information: Electric boundary conditions ("electric (Et = 0)") force the

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

tangential electric field to be zero. For non-zero frequencies, Faraday's Law implies a
zero normal component of the magnetic flux density B. Viewing magnetostatics as a
static limit of Maxwell's equations justifies this implication even for the magnetostatic
case. Consequently, an electric boundary condition always forces a zero normal
component of the magnetic flux density, i.e. the B-field is purely tangential, and no flux
can leave the computational domain at this face. Note that this also applies to the
boundary of perfect electric conductors (PECs), which play the role of interior boundary
conditions.

Another important boundary condition is the "magnetic (Ht = 0)"-condition, which forces
a zero tangential magnetic field, i.e. the magnetic field is purely normal to a face defined
as "magnetic." This consideration is used in the next sub-section.

Define Symmetry Conditions

In addition to the boundary planes, you can specify “symmetry planes". Each specified
symmetry plane reduces the simulation time and the required memory by (roughly) a
factor of two. In our example, the structure is symmetric with respect to the Y/Z plane
(perpendicular to the x-axis). A second symmetry plane applies to the X/Z plane.

The excitation of the fields is performed by the currents in the coils for which the current
pattern is shown below:

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 Y/Z plane

X/Z plane

The electric symmetry planes for the magnetic field can be applied if
the current pattern is normal to the plane.

The resulting magnetic field has no component normal to the X/Z and Y/Z planes (the
entire field is oriented tangential to these planes). Moreover, the fields have no
component tangential to the X/Y plane. If you specify X/Z and Y/Z planes as “electric”
and X/Y as “magnetic” symmetry planes, you can advise CST EM Studio to limit the

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

simulation to 1/8 of the actual structure by taking these symmetry conditions into
account.

To specify the symmetry condition, click on the Symmetry Planes tab in the Boundary
Conditions dialog box. For the YZ- and XZ-plane symmetry, you can choose "electric
(Et = 0)" by either selecting the appropriate choice in the dialog box, or by double-
clicking on the corresponding symmetry plane visualization in the view and selecting the
appropriate choice from the context menu. For XY-plane symmetry, choose "magnetic
(Ht = 0)." Once you have done this, your model and the dialog box will appear as follows:

Finally, click OK in the dialog box to store the settings. The boundary visualization will
then disappear.

As shown by the QuickStart Guide, the model is now completely defined, and you are
ready to start the magnetostatic solver.

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 In order to get a discrete version of the defined model that can be solved numerically, a
mesh must be provided for the computational domain. CST EM Studio features two
independent solvers based on tetrahedral and hexahedral meshes, respectively. Let us
start with the tetrahedral solver.

Generate and Visualize a Tetrahedral Mesh

The tetrahedral mesh generation for the structure is performed fully automatically when
the tetrahedral magnetostatic solver is started.

It is also possible to generate the mesh separately before starting the solver. This may
be helpful in order to get an impression of the mesh quality and mesh resolution.
Furthermore, it is possible to fine-tune the mesh before running the computation using
a-priori knowledge about the solution. Let us use this second possibility and generate
the mesh separately.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

First, open the Mesh Properties dialog by selecting Simulation: Mesh  Global
Properties  Tetrahedral . The dialog box “Mesh Properties – Tetrahedral” will open.
In order to get a reasonable overall mesh resolution of the problem, you can increase
the values for Maximum cell. In general, it is sufficient to refine the mesh locally, i.e. only
at certain critical parts of the geometry, which can be achieved by running the solver
with the fully automatic energy-based adaptive refinement. Thus, we start with a rather
coarse mesh and leave the Cells per max model box edge at the value 10 for the model
and at 5 for the background. Additionally, press the Specials button and switch off the
option Anisotropic Curvature Refinement in the Special Mesh Properties – Tetrahedral
dialog box.

Background information: The results are strongly influenced by the mesh resolution.
The automatic mesh generator analyzes the geometry and tries to refine the mesh
locally taking geometric features into account (e.g. curvature-based refinement with
tetrahedral meshes or expert system-based approach with hexahedral meshes).
However, due to the complexity of electromagnetic problems, this approach may not be
able to determine all critical domains in the structure. To circumvent this problem, CST
EM Studio features an adaptive mesh refinement that uses the results of a previous
solver run in order to optimize the mesh. The adaptive mesh refinement can be activated
by checking the corresponding option in the Solver Parameters dialog box.

30
 Now click the Update button in the Mesh Properties dialog box to start the mesh
generation. You will see a progress bar displaying the current status of the mesh
generation.

When the mesh generation process has finished, the progress bar disappears. You will
see that the entries in the Mesh summary frame of the Mesh Properties dialog box have
been updated:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

In the Statistics frame, you can get information about the minimum and maximum mesh-
edge lengths, the number of tetrahedrons, and the maximum, minimum, and average
mesh quality. The number of tetrahedrons and the edge lengths give you information
about the size and resolution of the discretized model.

Please note that the mesh size and the results might differ slightly depending on the
operating system and the architecture of the machine with which they are calculated.

Background information: Generally, due to the finiteness of the mesh density, the
computed results differ from the exact solution. The introduced error is called the
discretization error. Increasing the mesh density will usually lead to more precise results,
yet the computation time and the necessary memory size will increase.

The quality of a tetrahedron is positive and less than or equal to one. The value “1”
indicates the highest (equilateral tetrahedron), the value “0” the lowest quality (zero
volume tetrahedron). Please refer to the online help for an exact definition of quality.

Background information: Not only the mesh density but also the mesh quality has a
strong influence on the results. A very low mesh quality may lead to a poor
approximation of the model. Moreover, a low mesh quality may reduce the speed of an
iterative solver. This is the reason why it is always meaningful to have a look at the mesh
before running a simulation.

Now close the Mesh Properties dialog box by clicking the OK button. You can visualize
the mesh by entering the mesh view (Simulation: Mesh  Mesh View ). The mesh
should look similar to the illustration below. To inspect the mesh in the interior of the

31
 structure, activate the cutting plane by selecting View: Sectional View  Cutting Plane
Cutting Plane (Shift+C) .

The automatic curvature refinement leads to a local refinement along the blended edges.
By default, the mesh transition from the coarser to the finer mesh regions is very rapid.
This transition can be smoothed in the Specials dialog-box of the Global Mesh
Properties dialog box (Mesh: Mesh Control  Global Properties  Tetrahedral ),
which may also improve the mesh quality. Please refer to the online help for more
details.

Remember that you have reduced the computational model by defining symmetry

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

planes. Therefore, only 1/8 of the computational domain is meshed. Nevertheless, the
mesh is visualized for the complete structure by mirroring the missing parts. You can
easily see the symmetry planes in the mesh-view.

Finally, let us take a look at the mesh of the surrounding space. Activate the visualization
of the background material by selecting View: Options  View Options (Alt+V) , and
then select the Background material checkbox in the Draw frame of the General Tab.
After you click OK, the displayed mesh should look similar to the following picture:

Before you go on, you should deactivate the visualization of the background material by
selecting View: Options  View Options (Alt+V) again and un-checking Background
material. Leave the mesh view by selecting Mesh: Close  Close Mesh View .

32
 Run the Tetrahedral Magnetostatic Solver
The simulation is started from the Magnetostatic Solver Parameters dialog box which
can be opened via Home: Simulation  Setup Solver :

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Make sure the Mesh Type "Tetrahedral" is selected. In the Accuracy drop-down list, a
stopping criterion for the iterative linear equation system solver can be selected. For the
example model, leave the Accuracy value at 1e-6.

Background Information: While the solution accuracy mainly depends on the

discretization of the structure and can be improved by refining the mesh, the numerical
error of the linear equation system solver introduces a second error source in field
simulations (iteration error). Choosing a small Accuracy value reduces this error at the
expense of a longer calculation time. Usually, an Accuracy setting of “1e-6” is sufficient,
but in some cases it might be necessary to select a smaller value, particularly if you
receive a warning that the results are not accurate. Furthermore, with increasing mesh
density (i.e. smaller discretization error) you should also increase the solver accuracy
by selecting a smaller Accuracy value.

Furthermore, activate the calculation of the Apparent inductance matrix. Please note
that the Adaptive mesh refinement is switched on already. This setting is meaningful as
the initial mesh is rather coarse. During the solver run, several mesh refinement passes
are performed automatically until the energy value does not change significantly
between two subsequent passes. The default termination criterion is an energy deviation
of 1% (or less). You can fine-tune these settings in the Adaptive Mesh Refinement dialog
box.

Click the Properties… button to enter the Adaptive Mesh Refinement dialog box. Change
the Stopping criterion to 1e-5 and verify that the checkbox Snap new nodes to geometry
is checked. This feature will ensure that new nodes that are generated on the surface
mesh during the mesh adaption will be projected to the original geometry, so that the
approximation of curved surfaces is improved after each adaption step. The dialog box
should now look as follows:

33
 Close the dialog with the OK button and finally start the simulation procedure by clicking
Start.

Several progress bars like the one depicted below will appear in the status bar informing
you about the current solver status:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

These are the steps of the tetrahedral magnetostatic solver run:

1. Computing coil(s): This first calculation step must be performed to calculate the
discrete representation of coil current patterns.

2. Initializing magnetostatic solver: During this step, your input model is checked
for errors such as invalid overlapping materials, not well-defined sources, etc.

3. Assembling system: The linear system of equations is generated.

4. Constructing pre-conditioner: This includes construction steps for the pre-

conditioner of the solver, e.g. an LU-decomposition, a construction of hierarchy for
a multigrid solver etc.

5. Solving linear system: During this stage, the equation system is solved yielding
the unknown field.

6. Estimating error (only during mesh adaption pass): The local error for each
element is estimated (error distribution).

7. Marking elements for refinement (only during mesh adaption pass): A certain
number of elements will be marked for refinement, based on the computed error.

8. Adapting mesh (only during mesh adaption pass): The mesh is refined taking the
marked elements into account.

9. Inductance computation (only if switched on): The apparent and/or incremental

inductance matrix is calculated.

10. Postprocessing stage: The field solution is used to compute other fields and
additional results like the energy within the structure.

34
 If the adaptive mesh refinement is switched on, some of the steps are repeated until a
predefined stopping criterion is met.

For this simple structure, the entire analysis (including adaptive mesh refinement)
usually takes only a few minutes to complete on a modern standard computer.

If you activate the mesh view (Home: Mesh  Mesh View ) while the adaptive solver
is running, you can observe how and where the mesh is refined after each pass. After
the solver has finished, the mesh should look like depicted in the following picture
(deviations are possible since the initial mesh can differ slightly depending on the
operating system and the architecture of the machine):

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Analyze the Results of the Tetrahedral Solver
After the solver run you can access the results via the navigation tree, see below.

While the adaptive solver is running, you can already watch the progress of the mesh
refinement and the convergence behavior in the NT: 1D Results  Adaptive Meshing
folder:

35
 © Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023
Click, for instance, on NT: 1D Results  Adaptive Meshing  Error. This folder contains
a curve that displays the change of the relative energy of two subsequent simulations.
The curve below shows that the maximum difference of the relative change of the energy
is below the desired stopping criterion of 1e-5.

Additionally, the convergence of the energy can be visualized by selecting

NT: 1D Results  Adaptive Meshing  Energy.

36
 Please remember that the curves can differ slightly when computed on machine with
different architecture. Furthermore, the number of passes needed for convergence can
deviate also owing to the machine architecture.

In practice, it often proves sensible to activate the adaptive mesh refinement to ensure
convergence of the results. (This might not be necessary for structures with which you
are already familiar and where you can use your experience to refine the automatic
mesh manually.)

You can visualize the magnetic flux density by choosing

NT: 2D/3D Results  B-Field [Ms] to get an impression of the B-field inside the

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

transformer. After you select this folder, a plot similar to the following should appear:

It might be necessary to adjust the size (scaling) and the density of the arrow objects to
obtain a better view. You can modify the plot properties by selecting 2D/3D Plot:
Plot Properties  Properties (or by selecting Plot Properties from the context menu
in the main view). The following dialog box will open:

37
 © Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023
To decrease the number of arrows, move the Density slider slightly to the left.

To get an even better view, you can plot the field on a 2D plane. Select 2D/3D Plot:
Sectional View  Fields on Plane . Again, to adjust the plot quality, you can select
2D/3D Plot: Plot Properties  Properties , and move the Density slider.

Before you continue, ensure that the local coordinate system is not active. In order to
deactivate the local coordinate system, deselect Modeling: WCS  Local WCS  Local
WCS . Note that it may be necessary to click on the NT: Components folder first.

After reselecting NT: 2D/3D Results  B-Field [Ms], switch off the “Structure
Transparent” mode by clicking on 2D/3D Plot: Plot Properties  Structure Transparent
. Furthermore, use the View tab to adjust the view properly:

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 1. Select “Right” from the drop-down list in View: Change View  Select View.
2. Activate the Plane Rotation Mode (View: Mouse Control  Rotate in Plane ).
3. Turn the plot 90 degrees by holding the left mouse button and moving the mouse.
4. Select View: Change View  Reset View to adjust the plot size.

A plot similar to the following should appear:

Afterwards, switch on the “Structure Transparent” mode again via 2D/3D Plot: Plot
Properties  All Transparent and deactivate the 2D plot mode by deselecting 2D/3D
Plot: Sectional View  Fields on Plane .

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Please note: At the right top corner in the main view, you can usually see a color ramp,
which you can adjust by dragging its small markers, or in the plot properties. By default,
it is scaled to the overall maximum of the 3D Field you are viewing. From time to time it
may happen that, for example, the maximum of an active 2D cut plane is much smaller
than the 3D maximum. In order to get a meaningful impression of the field then, it might
be necessary to rescale the color ramp. This can be done, for example, in the context
menu (right-click in the main view) by selecting Smart Scaling . To reset the view to
the default, select Reset Scaling from the context menu.

The inductance matrix was computed after the last adaptive run. The results are located
in NT: 1D Results  Ms Solver  Inductance Matrix and contain both, the self- and the
mutual inductances. You can either obtain a visual representation or inspect the
numerical values in the Result Navigator, which is by default located as a tab in the
window below the main view. You can select multiple results within one folder by holding
down the Shift key and then clicking them with the left mouse button.

Note: For your convenience, you can move around and detach all visual tabs and
windows by Drag&Drop. You can control which windows are visible by selecting or
deselecting them via the drop-down list accessible through View: Window  Windows.

Finally, let us take a look at the total magnetic energy in the computational domain.
Select all entries under NT: 1D Results  Ms Solver  Energy to obtain:

39
 You can find the co-energy in a similar way under NT: 1D Results  Ms Solver 
Co-Energy:

The energy and the co-energy are shown for each solid separately. Note that energy
and co-energy are exactly the same since only linear materials have been used in the
model.

Remember that the major advantage of the tetrahedral mesh is the explicit
representation of the geometry, even in the course of adaptive refinement. A proper
resolution of non-planar surfaces is very important, in particular, to model jumps in the

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

field components at material interfaces. For very complex geometries, however, the
generation of the tetrahedral mesh is sometimes rather time-consuming and requires a
sufficient quality of the CAD data. An optional method is available, which combines the
simplicity of hexahedral meshes with the Perfect Boundary Approximation technique.

In the following subsections, let us compute the same model applying the hexahedral
magnetostatic solver. Again, we will look at the mesh parameters and the visualization
and then turn to the solver itself.

Visualize a Hexahedral Mesh

The hexahedral mesh generation for the structure analysis is performed fully
automatically based on an expert system. As for tetrahedral meshes, it may be helpful
in some situations to inspect the mesh before starting the solver in order to improve the
simulation speed by changing the parameters for the mesh generation.

Note that in CST EM Studio generating hexahedral meshes is very fast compared to
generating tetrahedral meshes. The reason is that by applying the Perfect Boundary
Approximation feature, hexahedral meshes do not need to resolve the geometry: i.e.
interfaces of materials and solids are not represented by a surface mesh as they are for
tetrahedral meshes.

First, you must switch from tetrahedral to hexahedral meshing. Select Home: Mesh 
Global Properties  Hexahedral . Then, the Global Mesh Properties - Hexahedral
dialog box will open automatically. For the purpose of this tutorial, the Maximum cell -
Near to model value can be changed to 5.

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 When you click the OK button, you will be informed that the results have to be deleted:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Confirm the deletion of the results by clicking OK.

A hexahedral mesh will be generated automatically without any further action. You can
visualize the mesh by entering the mesh view (Home: Mesh  Mesh View ). For this
structure, the mesh information will be displayed as follows:

One 2D mesh plane will always be kept in view. Because of the symmetry settings, the
mesh only extends across 1/8 of the structure (the mesh plane extends to 1/4). You can
modify the orientation of the mesh plane by choosing Mesh: Sectional View  Normal:

41
 X/Y/Z (shortcut: X/Y/Z). You can move the plane along its normal direction with Mesh:
Sectional View  Position or by pressing the Up / Down cursor keys.

In most cases, the automatic mesh generation produces a sufficient mesh, but we
recommend that you spend some time later on studying the mesh generation
procedures in the online documentation once you feel familiar with the standard
simulation procedure.

Leave the mesh inspection view by Mesh: Close  Close Mesh View .

Start the Hexahedral Solver

After you have defined all necessary parameters, you are ready to start your first
simulation using the hexahedral solver. Again, start the simulation from the
magnetostatic solver dialog box: Home: Simulation  Setup Solver . Within the solver
dialog box, the "Hexahedral" mesh should be selected in the Mesh Type drop-down list.
In order to compute inductances from the magnetic field, the box Apparent inductance
matrix has to be checked. Ensure that the Adaptive mesh refinement is switched on (this
is not the default for hexahedral meshes). Please recall the remarks on adaptive mesh
refinement made in the section Generate and Visualize a Tetrahedral Mesh. They apply
to hexahedral meshes as well.

The Accuracy value can be left unchanged. Please note that what is mentioned
concerning the accuracy value in the tetrahedral solver subsection (e.g. its dependence

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

on the discretization) also applies to the hexahedral solver. After you set all these
parameters, the dialog box should look like this:

Next enter the Properties dialog of the adaptive mesh refinement. The Error limit should
be changed to 0.0005, the Minimum number of passes to 3, and the Maximum number
of passes to 9. The other settings can be kept at their default values.

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 Confirm your setting by pressing OK. Now start the simulation procedure by clicking
Start. A few progress bars will appear in the status bar to keep you up-to-date with the
solver’s progress:

1. Calculating coil excitations: This first calculation step must be performed to

calculate the discrete representation of coil current patterns.

2. Checking model: During this step, your input model is checked for errors such as

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

invalid overlapping materials, etc.

3. Calculating matrix and dual matrix: During these steps, the system of equations
is set up, which will be solved subsequently.

4. Solving linear system: During this stage, a linear equation solver calculates the
field distribution inside the structure.

5. Postprocessing: The field solution is used to compute additional results like the
inductance matrix or the energy within the calculation domain.

As for the tetrahedral solver, some error estimation and mesh refinement steps are
performed in the case of adaptive mesh refinement. Note that several linear systems will
be solved during the computation in order to compute all entries of the inductance matrix.
For this simple structure, the entire analysis takes only a few seconds per adaption pass.
After the simulation the mesh (Home: Mesh  Mesh View ) should look similar to this:

43
 Analyze the Results of the Hexahedral Solver
Now you can generate similar result plots as you did for the tetrahedral solver-run:
Visualize the magnetic flux density by choosing NT: 2D/3D Results  B-Field. After you
select this item a plot similar to the following should appear (possibly after some fine-
tuning of the plot properties in 2D/3D Plot: Plot Properties  Properties ):

Again, you can switch between 2D and 3D-view as well as transparency mode via
NT: 2D/3D Results  Sectional View  Fields on Plane and 2D/3D Plot: Plot
Properties  Structure Transparent , respectively.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

To observe field values at certain positions within a 2D plot, activate 2D/3D Plot: Tools
 Field at Cursor. The field values will be displayed in the lower right corner of the main
view. Note that for the scalar fields and for the vector fields projected on the plane you
can add points to a List of Field Values with a double click in the main view.

Several mesh refinement passes were performed automatically until the energy value
did not change significantly between two subsequent passes. The default termination
criterion is an energy deviation of 1% (or less).

The progress of the mesh refinement can be checked in the

NT: 1D Results  Adaptive Meshing folder. This plot can be viewed by selecting
NT: 1D Results  Adaptive Meshing  Error:

This result shows that the maximum difference of the energy error is below 0.05 %, i.e.
below the error limit prescribed in the adaptive mesh refinement properties.

Additionally, the convergence of the energy can be visualized by selecting

NT: 1D Results  Adaptive Meshing  Energy:

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 It can be seen that the hexahedral mesh generator already provides a good mesh for a
first calculation. The small energy error shows that the adaptive mesh refinement is able
to confirm that variations are reduced to a minimum.

In practice, it often proves sensible to activate the adaptive mesh refinement to ensure
convergence of the results. (This might not be necessary for structures with which you
are already familiar where you can use your experience to manually refine the automatic
mesh.)

Now let us compare the magnetic energy computed by the hexahedral solver to the one
computed by the tetrahedral solver. Select NT: 1D Results  Ms Solver  Energy to

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

obtain the “Current Run” value for the total energy in the Result Navigator:

This is very similar to the value computed by the tetrahedral solver. The difference
comes from the non-zero discretization errors. Moreover, fewer meshcells have been
used for the hexahedral discretization.
In the solver dialog box, you have chosen to calculate the inductance matrix. To view
the values of the inductance matrix, select all entries in NT: 1D Results  Ms Solver 
Apparent Inductance Matrix to see them in the Result Navigator.

The results are in good agreement with those obtained with the tetrahedral mesh.

45
 Create a Planar Mesh
For axis symmetric structures or structures for which boundary effects for one spatial
dimension can be neglected, the 2D solver can be applied. The structure is designed as
a 3D model and cut by a user defined plane. Compared to the 3D solvers, choosing this
option might save a lot of computation time. Even if your model is not perfectly
symmetric, this solver can give good estimates when starting with a new design.

First, you must switch from hexahedral to planar meshing. Select Home: Mesh  Global
Properties  Planar . The cutting plane alignment description as well as the 2D mesh
setting are available then in the Mesh Properties dialog box, which will open
automatically. Select Rotational for the symmetry type and Z for the axis. The axis
should be centered in the 3D domain, therefore select Center for the X- and Y-position.
Finally, select Y as the R vector. Also change the Maximum cell – Model to 10 and
Background to 1. The Preview button allows checking the settings in the main view:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

A first mesh can be created directly with the Update button:

It will be shown a few seconds later:

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 Finally, leave the Mesh Properties dialog box by pressing OK.

Start the Planar Solver

After you have defined all the necessary parameters, you are ready to start your first

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

simulation using the planar solver. Again, start the simulation from the magnetostatic
solver dialog box: Home: Simulation  Setup Solver . Within the solver setup menu,
the ”Planar“ mesh should be selected in the Mesh type drop-down list. In order to
compute the apparent inductances, the box Apparent inductance matrix has to be
checked. Ensure that the Adaptive mesh refinement is switched on. The Accuracy value
can be left unchanged.
After you set all these parameters, the dialog box should look like this:

Next, enter the Properties dialog of the adaptive mesh refinement and set the maximum
number of passes to be equal to 8. If necessary, change the Stopping criterion to 1e-5.
The other settings can be kept at their default values.

47
 Finally, close the dialog with the OK button and start the simulation procedure by clicking
on Start. Like in the case of the previous simulations, several progress bars will appear
in the status bar informing you about the current solver status.

These are the steps of the planar magnetostatic solver run:

1. Computing coil(s): This first calculation step must be performed to calculate the
discrete representation of coil current patterns.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

2. Initializing magnetostatic solver: During this step, your input model is checked
for errors such as invalid overlapping materials, not well-defined sources, etc.

3. Assembling system: The linear system of equations is generated.

4. Constructing pre-conditioner: This includes construction steps for the pre-

conditioner of the solver, e.g. an LU-decomposition, a construction of hierarchy for
a multigrid solver etc.

5. Solving linear system: During this stage, the equation system is solved yielding
the unknown field.

6. Estimating error (only during mesh adaption pass): The local error for each
element is estimated (error distribution).

7. Marking elements for refinement (only during mesh adaption pass): Based on
the computed error, a certain number of elements will be marked for refinement.

8. Adapting mesh (only during mesh adaption pass): The mesh is refined taking the
marked elements into account.

9. Inductance computation (only if switched on): The apparent and/or incremental

inductance matrix is calculated.

10. Postprocessing stage: The field solution is used to compute other fields and
additional results like the energy within the structure.

After the solver has finished, the mesh should look similar to the one depicted in the
following picture (deviations are possible since the initial mesh can differ slightly
depending on the operating system and the architecture of the machine):

48
 Analyze the Results of the Planar Solver
Already during the planar solver run, you can watch the progress of the mesh refinement
and the convergence behavior in the NT: 1D Results  Adaptive Meshing folder.

Click, for instance, on NT: 1D Results  Adaptive Meshing  Error. This folder contains

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

a curve which displays the change of the relative energy of two subsequent simulations.
From this result, we can observe that the maximum difference of the relative change of
the energy is below the desired stopping criterion 1e-5:

Additionally, the energy convergence can be visualized by selecting in the

NT: 1D Results  Adaptive Meshing  Energy:

49
 The curves can slightly differ when computed on a 32-bit or a 64-bit machine. The
number of adaptation passes needed for convergence can also deviate depending on
the machine architecture.

Now, you can visualize the magnetic flux density by choosing

NT: 2D/3D Results  B-Field. After you select this item and fine-tune the plot properties
in 2D/3D Plot: Plot Properties, a plot similar to the following one should appear:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Completing the analysis of the planar solver results, let us compare the magnetic energy
and the apparent inductance values computed by this solver to the ones computed by
the 3D solvers.

To view the magnetic energy result, select all the results in NT: 1D Results  Ms Solver
 Energy and check them in the Result Navigator:

The co-energy results you can similarly find in NT: 1D Results  Ms Solver 
Co-Energy:

These results are very similar to the ones computed by the tetrahedral and hexahedral
solvers.

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 The results for the apparent inductance computation can be found under NT: 1D Results
 Ms Solver  Inductance Matrix:

These results are also in good agreement with those computed with the 3D solvers.

Accessing the Single-Value Results

All single-value results can be found in the NT. For the magnetostatic solver, result
values for energy, co-energy, coil characteristics, flux linkages and inductances are
quickly accessible from NT: 1D Results  Ms Solver folder:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

The same data and more complex post processing results are also available via the
Template Based Post Processing tool.

Parameterization and Automatic Optimization of the Structure

The steps above demonstrate how to enter and analyze a simple structure. However,
structures are usually analyzed to improve their performance. This procedure is called
“design” in contrast to “analysis”.

After you receive some information on how to improve the structure, you will need to
change the structure’s parameters. This could be done by simply re-entering the
structure, but this is not the most efficient solution.

CST EM Studio offers various options to describe the structure parametrically in order
to change the parameters easily. The History List function, described in the CST Studio
Suite Getting Started manual, is a general option, but for simple parameter changes
there is an easier solution, which is described below.

Let us assume you want to change the thickness of the transformer’s box. The easiest
way to do this is to select the box by clicking on NT: Components  component1 
cylinder box. You may also need to rotate the structure in order to see a plot similar to
the following (the cutting plane is still switched on):

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 You can now choose Modeling: Edit  Properties (Ctrl+E) to open a list showing the
history of the shape’s creation:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Select the “Shell” operation from the history tree (see above). After you click Edit, the
Shell dialog box will appear. In this window, you will find the thickness of the box
(Thickness = 0.5) as specified during the shape creation. Change this parameter to a
value of 0.8 and click OK.

Confirm the deletion of the results by clicking OK.

The structure plot will change showing the new structure with the new box thickness:

52
 You can generally change all parameters of any shape by selecting the shape and
editing its properties. This fully parametric structural modeling is one of CST EM Studio’s
most outstanding features.
The parametric structure definition also works if some objects have been constructed
relative to each other using local coordinate systems. In this case, the program will try
to identify all the picked faces according to their topological order rather than their
absolute position in space.

The changes in parameters occasionally alter the topology of the structure too severely,
so the structure update may fail. In this case, the History List function offers powerful
options to circumvent these problems. Please refer to the online documentation, or

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

contact technical support.

You may also assign variables to the structure parameters: Select the “Shell” operation
from the history tree again (the dialog box should be still open) and click Edit. Now enter
the string "thickness" as depicted below:

Then click OK. A new dialog box will open asking you to define the new parameter
"thickness". Here enter 0.5 in the Value field. You may also provide a text in the
Description field so that you can later remember the meaning of the parameter:

Closing this dialog box by clicking OK defines the parameter and updates the model.
Now also close the History Tree window. Note that all defined parameters are listed in
the parameter docking window:

53
 The Parameter List shares the same space with the Result Navigator and it may be
necessary to select the Parameter List tab in in the lower part of the CST Studio Suite.

You can change the value of parameters by clicking on the corresponding entry in the
Expression column of the parameter window and entering a new value. If you do this,
the message “Some variables have been modified. Press ‘Home: Edit  Parametric
Update (F7)’ ” will appear in the main view. Then, if you perform this update operation,
the structure will be regenerated according to the current parameter value. You can
verify that parameter values between 0.3 and 0.7 give useful results. The function
Modeling: Edit  Parameters  Animate Parameter is also useful in this regard. It is
also possible to define a new parameter by entering it in the parameter window.

Since you now successfully parameterized your structure, it might be interesting to see
how the apparent inductance values change when the thickness of the box is varied.
The easiest way to obtain these variation results is to use the Parameter Sweep tool
accessible from within the magnetostatic solver dialog box (Simulation: Solver  Setup
Solver ). Note that the Planar Mesh type with Adaptive mesh refinement is still
selected. Click the Par. Sweep button to open the following dialog box:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

In this dialog box, you can specify calculation “sequences”, which consist of various
parameter combinations. To add such a sequence, click the New Seq. button. Then,
click the New Par button to add a parameter variation to the sequence:

54
 In the dialog box that arises, you can select the name of the parameter to vary in the
Name drop-down list. After selecting the item to sweep, you can specify the lower (From)
and upper (To) bounds for the parameter variation. Finally, enter the number of steps in
which the parameter should be varied in the Samples field.

In this example, the thickness of the box should be swept From 0.3 To 0.7 in 5 Samples.
After you click OK, the parameter sweep setting will appear in the Sequences frame.
Note that you can define an arbitrary number of sequences each containing an unlimited
number of different parameter combinations.

Now run the parameter sweep by clicking Start. A progress bar in the Progress window
shows the current status of the parameter sweep. After the solver has finished its work,
you will find the results in the navigation tree: NT: 1D Results  Ms Solver 
Inductance Matrix, where the respective inductance values can be plotted against the
parameter values covered by the sweep. Select the result for L coil 1, coil 1. If the X axis
is based on Run IDs (0..5), switch to the parametric X axis by selecting “Parametric”
from the dropdown list available at 1D Plot: 0D Result Axis  X Axis. You should get a
graph similar to the following:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Choosing NT: 1D Results  Ms Solver  Inductance Matrix  L coil 1, coil 2, you can
inspect the mutual inductance in the same way:

Assume that you now want to adjust the self-inductance of coil 1 to a value of 3.2 H
(which can be achieved within a parameter range of 0.3 to 0.7 according to the
parameter sweep). However, figuring out the proper parameter may be a lengthy task
that can be performed equally well automatically.

Before you continue to optimize this structure, ensure that the thickness parameter is
within the valid parameter range (e.g. 0.5). If you have to modify the value, do not forget

55
 to update (Home: Edit  Parametric Update (F7)) the structure afterwards. Note that
you must enter the modeler mode, e.g. by clicking on the “Components” item in the
navigation tree, before you can perform the update.

CST EM Studio offers a very powerful built-in optimizer feature for parametrical
optimizations. To open the optimizer control dialog box, select Simulation: Solver 
Optimizer:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

First, check the desired parameter(s) for the optimization in the Settings tab of the
optimization dialog box (here the “thickness” parameter should be checked). Next,
specify the minimum and maximum values for this parameter during the optimization.
Here, you should enter a parameter range between 0.3 and 0.7. Refer to the online
documentation for more information on these settings.

To store the parametric results calculated during the optimizer run, the Result storage
settings should be changed in the General Properties dialog from the default “None” to
“Automatic”:

Next, specify the optimization goal. Hence, please click on the Goals tab:

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 Here, you can specify a list of goals to be achieved during the optimization. In this
example, the target is to find a parameter value for which the self-inductance of coil 1 is

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

3.2 H.

Therefore, click on the Add New Goal button. A new dialog box will open: Define
Optimizer Goal. Since you want to find the thickness value for a self-inductance of 3.2
H, select the corresponding result name (0D: .\Ms Solver\Inductance Matrix\L coil 1, coil
1) and the equal operator in the Conditions frame and set the Target to 3.2:

After you click OK, the optimizer dialog box should look as follows:

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 Since you now specified which parameters to optimize and set the goal for the

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

optimization, the next step is to start the optimization procedure by clicking Start. The
optimizer will show the progress of the optimization in an output window in the Info tab,
which is activated automatically.

When the optimization is done, the optimizer output window shows the best parameter
settings to achieve the optimization goal:

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 Note that due to the sophisticated optimization technology, only a few solver runs were
necessary to find the optimal solution with high accuracy. It even reuses your previously
computed results for a more efficient use of resources.

Now check the inductance value for the optimal parameter setting (thickness = 0.5456)
by clicking NT: 1D Results  Ms Solver  Inductance Matrix  L coil 1, coil 1. The
computed inductance is very close to the target value:

This ends the first application example.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Summary
This example should have given you an overview of the key concepts of CST EM Studio.
You should now have a basic idea of how to do the following:

1. Model the structures by using the solid modeler

2. Specify the solver parameters, check the mesh and start the simulation using the
tetrahedral solver with the adaptive mesh refinement feature
3. Specify the solver parameters, check the mesh and start the simulation using the
hexahedral solver with the adaptive mesh refinement feature
4. Visualize the magnetic field distributions
5. Specify the solver parameters, check the mesh and start the simulation using the
planar solver with the adaptive mesh refinement feature
6. Define the structure using structure parameters
7. Use the parameter sweep tool and visualize parametric results
8. Perform automatic optimizations

If you are familiar with all these topics, you have a very good starting point for an even
more productive use of CST EM Studio.

For more information on a particular topic, we recommend that you browse through the
online help system which can be opened by selecting File: Help  Help Contents – Get
help using CST Studio Suite . If you have any further questions or remarks, please do
not hesitate to contact your technical support team. We also strongly recommend that
you participate in one of our special training classes held regularly at a location near
you. Please ask your support center for details.

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 Chapter 3 – Solver Overview
Solvers and Sources
The example in the previous chapter demonstrates how to define a coil source for a
magnetostatic simulation. The general workflow of electrostatic, stationary current or
low-frequency problems is quite similar to a magnetostatic application.

The different simulation types differ in the definition of materials, boundary conditions
and excitation sources. The way to define materials and boundary conditions in CST EM
Studio is quite similar for all solvers, whereas there are larger differences in the definition
of sources. For this reason, an overview of the sources that are supported by each solver
is given below.

Magnetostatic Solver:
 Permanent magnet:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Permanent Magnet
 Current or voltage coil:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil
 Coil segment:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil  Coil Segment
 Coil segment from solid:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil Segment from Solid
 Coil group:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil  Coil Group
 Current path:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Current Path
 External magnetic field:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Magnetic Source Field
 Stationary current field (via Solver checkbox) – the most important stationary
current sources (Electric Potential and Current Port ) are available from
the Simulation: Sources and Loads toolbar as well

Typical applications are: magnets, magnetic valves, actuators, motors, generators and
sensors.

Electrostatic Solver:
 Potential definition on a PEC (perfect electric conductor) solid:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Electric Potential
 Capacitive field grading on a PEC:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Electric Potential  Field Grading
 Potential definition on a normal/electric boundary:
Simulation: Settings  Boundaries
(select the Boundary Potentials tab from within the Boundary dialog box)
 Charge definition on a PEC:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Electric Charge on PEC
 Uniform volume- or surface-charge distribution:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Electric Charge Distribution

Typical applications are: high voltage devices, capacitors, MEMS and sensors.

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 Stationary Current Solver:
 Potential definition on a PEC solid:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Electric Potential
 Current port:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Current Port
 Field import:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Field Import
 Current path:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Current Path
 Coil segment:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil segment
 Coil segment from solid:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil Segment from Solid
 Coil group:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil  Coil Group

Typical applications are: sensors, coils, circuit breakers, IR drop simulations and
grounding problems.

LF Frequency Domain Solver (Full Wave and Magnetoquasistatics ):

 Current or voltage coil:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil
 Coil segment:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil  Coil Segment
 Coil segment from solid:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil Segment from Solid
 Coil group:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil  Coil Group
 Current port:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Current Port
 Current path:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Path Sources Current Path From Curve
 Voltage path:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Path Sources  Voltage Path from Curve
 External magnetic field:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Magnetic Source Field
 Field import:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Field Import

LF Frequency Domain Solver (Electroquasistatics):

 Potential definition on a PEC solid:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Electric Potential

Typical applications are: NDT, proximity sensors, inductively coupled power transfer,
induction heating, magnetic and electric design of transformers.

LF Time Domain Solver (Magnetoquasistatics):

 Permanent magnet:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Permanent Magnet
 Current or voltage coil:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil
 Coil segment:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil  Coil Segment

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  Coil segment from solid:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil Segment from Solid
 Coil group:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil  Coil Group
 Current port:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Current Port
 Current path:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Path Sources Current Path From Curve
 Voltage path:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Path Sources Voltage Path from Curve
 External magnetic field:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Magnetic Source Field
 Rotational motion:
Simulation: Motion  Motion  New Rotation
 Translational motion:
Simulation: Motion  Motion  New Translation

LF Time Domain Solver (Electroquasistatics):

 Potential definition on a PEC solid:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Electric Potential

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Typical applications are: transient device switching, nonlinear time-dependent
problems such as electrical machines, sensors and high-voltage transformers.

Partial RLC Solver:

 Node definition on non-PEC solid face:
Simulation: Sources and Loads  RLC Node

Typical applications are: Printed circuit boards, Chip Packages, Network parameter
(SPICE) extraction

Magnetostatic Solver
The magnetostatic solver can be used for static magnetic problems. Available sources
are current paths, current or voltage coils, coil segments including those created from
solids, coil groups, permanent magnets and homogeneous magnetic source fields as
well as the current density field previously calculated by the stationary current solver. To
use the J-static current density field as magnetostatic source, activate the checkbox
Precompute stationary current field in the Magnetostatic Solver dialog box. The
stationary current field will then be precomputed automatically.

The main task of the solver is to calculate the magnetic field strength and the flux density.
These results appear automatically in the navigation tree after the solver run.

Nonlinear ferromagnetic Materials

The magnetostatic solver also features nonlinear ferromagnetic materials. These can be
defined by creating a BH-curve describing a soft-magnetic material behavior or by
creating a JH-curve describing a hard-magnetic material behavior. A nonlinear solver
will use a smoothed version of this curve in order to improve the convergence. The

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 resulting permeability distribution is also stored and can be accessed in the navigation
tree. Below an example of a soft-magnetic BH-curve is shown.

Inductance Calculation
The magnetostatic solver can extract the inductance matrices of coils and coil segments.
For nonlinear material properties, the nonlinear characteristic of the material is taken
into account. The user may choose the extraction of the apparent inductance matrix
and/or the incremental inductance matrix. For n coils and coil segments, the computation
of the inductance matrix requires the solution of n equation systems. If all material
properties are constant (i.e. type is Normal and no nonlinear properties have been
defined), the apparent and the incremental inductances are identical.

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Current or Voltage Coils
In the section Define Coils of the previous chapter, the main ideas of the simulation of
coils in CST EM Studio are already outlined. Moreover, you can find a step-by-step
description of a coil creation there.

Remember that a current and voltage coil is defined as an a-priori known current
distribution (also for voltage driven coils) which is constant over the cross-section of the
coil body. The supporting material has no influence on the source current distribution.

A coil in CST EM Studio can be constructed from two curves – the profile curve and the
path curve. To create a current coil, you must define these two curves and then select
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Coil . You will be prompted to select the coil profile
curve and then the coil path curve. When the profile curve can be swept along the path
curve successfully, the Define Coil dialog box will open automatically:

In this dialog box, you can specify the Name, the Group and the Conductor Type
(Stranded or Solid) as well as the current or voltage value, the Number of turns and the
ohmic Resistance of a coil. The Phase value is relevant only for LF Frequency Domain
simulations. The current direction can be reverted by checking Invert Current Direction.

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 Depending on the physical connections, coil sources can be gathered into so-called coil
groups. A current or voltage coil group is represented by a series connection of coils
characterized by a common current flowing through them. For the voltage coil groups,
the total voltage is defined by the individual coil group voltages. A coil group can be
understood as a single conductor, only a single flux linkage embraces the coil group,
and the coil group will only contribute to an inductance matrix as a single entity.

When the Project profile to path checkbox is activated, the profile curve is aligned with
the plane which is normal to the path curve. In the following example you can see the
profile curve, which includes an angle of 10 degrees with the path curve. The coil on the
left hand side will be obtained if the alignment is activated. To generate the coil displayed
on the right hand side, the alignment is switched off so that the profile is swept
unchanged along the path curve.

path curve

profile curve

coil generation coil generation

with projection without projection

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Coil Segments
There are multiple ways to construct a coil segment in CST EM Studio. One is - similar
to coils as described above - via profile and path curves, or via a previously picked planar
face, and the other is from a previously defined solid. Both ways will be described in
more detail.

Please note that coil segment sources are available for the tetrahedral-based solvers
only – if a hexahedral solver is used, a thin path is created at the position of the path
curve instead.

To define the profile of the source, one can either pick a planar face before activating
this mode or select a planar profile curve in the main plot window. If the tool is activated
with a picked planar face, the interactive mode will start with the definition of the path or
extrusion. The second step of the construction is to select a path curve. Alternatively, a
numerical value could be used for the extrusion of the profile. To skip this step one can
press ESC. If the profile is to be extruded to a picked point, it is necessary to pick this
point before activating the construction mode. After the path selection was completed
(either by selection or pressing ESC) a dialog box opens where all other settings can be
defined. In total, there are six different ways to define a coil segment via predefined path
and profile, which are summarized in the table below.

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 Profile: selected curve Profile: picked face
(needs to be picked beforehand)
Path: 1. Activate the creation tool 1. Pick a planar profile face
selected curve 2. Select the closed profile curve 2. Activate the creation tool
3. Select the open path curve 3. Select the closed profile curve

Coil segment created from a picked face

(red dots) and a path curve (blue)

Coil segment created from a profile curve

(red) and a path curve (blue)

Path: 1. Pick a point 1. or 2. Pick a planar profile face

extruded to picked point 2. Activate the creation tool 1. or 2. Pick a point
(needs to be picked 3. Select the closed profile curve 3. Activate the creation tool

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

beforehand) 4. Press ESC to open the dialog 4. Press ESC to open the dialog
box box

Coil segment created from a picked face

Coil segment created from a profile curve (red dots) and a picked point (red)
and a picked point
Path: 1. Activate the creation tool 1. Pick a planar profile face
extrude with given 2. Select the closed profile curve 2. Activate the creation tool
numerical height value 3. Press ESC to open the dialog 3. Press ESC to open the dialog
box box

Coil segment created from a selected profile

curve and a numerical value for the
extrusion height

Coil segment created from a picked face

(red dots) and a numerical value for the
extrusion height

Coil segments created this way always have the conductor-type ‘stranded’, which means
they have a homogeneous current distribution in its cross section. This source type
feeds the calculation domain with a given current.

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 Coil Segments from Solids

Another way to create a coil segment is to create it from a previously defined solid. After
creation of a solid, a definition of a coil can be initiated via Simulation: Sources and
Loads  Coil  Coil Segment from Solid . You will be asked to specify a planar
current entry and exit face. Finally, the coil segment characteristics are defined in the
dialog box which opens as soon as both required current faces are specified:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

For these coil segments you can choose a conductor type, either solid or eddy current
free. Depending on the conductor type, a coil segment can be characterized either by a
lumped value for the electrical resistance (in Ohm) or an electrical conductivity (in S/m).
Within the magnetostatic solver as well as within the stationary current solver, both
definitions are equivalent and can be converted into each other. However, this statement
does not hold within the magnetoquasistatic regimes of the frequency domain and time
domain solvers. We will elaborate on this in the respective subsection(s).

Note that the use of a coil segment from solid within any solver will require a stationary
current solver run to precompute the source current density.

The advantage of coil segment definition through a resistance is that this value can be
chosen independently from the coil segment geometry, which may vary in case of
intersections of associated solids or depending on mesh settings. On the other hand, a
coil of conductor model solid with associated conductivity allows for skin-effect and eddy
current analysis (in magnetoquasistatic simulations).

Permanent Magnets
To define a permanent magnet, you must activate the permanent magnet tool by
selecting Simulation: Sources and Loads  Permanent Magnet . You will be prompted

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 to select a face of a solid in order to select the magnet’s geometry. Pick any solid with
“Normal” material properties, possibly associated with a nonlinear, temperature
dependent, hard magnetic J-H curve.

You can define constant, radial or azimuthal magnetizations. For details refer to the
online help.

Constant Radial magnetization Azimuthal

magnetization magnetization

Current Paths
The definition of a current path is very similar to a coil definition. A single curve must be
defined before the current path tool can be activated by selecting Simulation: Sources
and Loads  Current Path . You will be prompted to select a curve. Then a dialog box
arises in order to define the total current through the loop:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

The phase value is only relevant for the LF Frequency Domain solver.

It is important that the current path is closed or that it terminates on a union of perfect
electric conductors (PEC) and electric boundary conditions or conductive domains
(generating a stationary current field) such that this union forms a closed loop with the
current path. Otherwise the problem is not solvable since such a source violates the
continuity equation in a magnetostatic context.

Left: A circular current path leaves the calculation domain through two electric boundaries – a solvable situation.
Due to symmetries, only 1/4 of the structure has to be calculated.

Right: A circular current path leaves the calculation domain through two magnetic boundaries – not a solvable
situation in magnetostatics.

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 Homogeneous Magnetic Field
To simulate structures in a homogeneous magnetic field, it is possible to define such a
source by selecting Simulation: Sources and Loads  Magnetic Source Field . The
following dialog box allows you to define the magnetic field vector:

Boundaries along the direction of the source field (i.e. boundary faces for which the
source field has non-zero flux) have to be set to type “magnetic”. Moreover, to set a valid
problem using the tetrahedral solver, one of the remaining faces may also be set to type
“magnetic”.

The Field phase value is relevant only for LF Frequency Domain simulations.

1D Solver Results

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After a magnetostatic solver run, all computed 1D Results are located in the navigation
tree under NT: 1D Results  Ms Solver. Here, you will find the simulation values for
energy, co-energy, flux linkages and source parameters. In a case of setups with coil
segments and current ports connected to the conductors and simulated using the
tetrahedral mesh, source parameters for voltages will include not only the voltages on a
whole conductive rings, but also the separate values of voltage drops on attached
conductors. These values in the navigation tree are provided with the subscript
“_conductor”.

Electrostatic Solver
The electrostatic solver can be used for the simulation of static electric problems.
Available sources comprise fixed and floating potentials, boundary potentials, charges
on PEC solids and homogeneous volume and surface charges. The main task for the
solver is to calculate the potential, the electric field strength and the electric flux density.
These results appear automatically in the navigation tree after the solver run.

Open Boundaries
The electrostatic solver features open boundary conditions. These help to reduce the
number of mesh nodes when problems in free space are simulated.

Potential Sources
The most important electrostatic source type is a potential definition. To define a
potential on a perfect electric conductor (the solid has to be assigned to PEC material)
you must activate the potential tool first via Simulation: Sources and Loads  Electric
Potential . The first step is to select the surface of a perfect electric conductor carrying
the new potential:

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 After a PEC surface has been selected, the potential dialog appears to assign a Name,
a Potential value and a Type for the new source:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

The Phase value is relevant only for LF Frequency Domain simulations and thus will be
ignored by the described solver.

Note that for a potential of Type "Floating", the value itself is not prescribed, but the
resulting constant potential at the solid will obtain a value such that the resulting total
charge of the conductor is zero. Consequently, defining a floating potential is equivalent
to assigning a zero charge. The charge definition will be discussed later.

Field Grading
Capacitive field grading is an electrostatic source characterized by a linear distribution
of potential on the PEC solid surface. This source can be created by selecting
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Electric Potential  Field Grading . Afterwards, a
surface of a PEC solid can be picked, on which the field grading source is to be created.
Then the field grading definition dialog box appears, where all the settings for the source
can be defined.

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 The Grading direction is the vector along which the potential value must change linearly.
In any plane perpendicular to this vector the potential value on the surface of the PEC
object is constant. Upper and lower potential values define the range within which the
electrical potential is changing on the surface of the PEC solid.

After the necessary values are set, press the OK button. A new field grading source is
created.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Charge Sources
Two different charge types exist in CST EM Studio: total charges on perfect conductors
(resulting generally in a non-uniform surface-charge distribution along the PEC surfaces)
and uniform charge distributions on normal material solids.

For the charge definition based on PEC, the first step is very similar to the one carried
out with the potential definition. After activating the charge tool via Simulation: Sources
and Loads  Electric Charge on PEC , you can pick a surface to which the charge
will be applied. Then the charge dialog appears to determine the name and the charge
value:

For the definition of a uniform charge-distribution definition, the first step is similar again
- the only difference is that the source must be assigned to a normal material solid. You
cannot define an uniform charge distribution on a PEC material. Use Simulation:
Sources and Loads  Electric Charge Distribution and select a normal material solid.
Then the following dialog will appear:

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 Here you can specify a name, a type and a value for the charge distribution. You can
define a volume as well as a surface charge distribution. Remember that the latter will
generate a jump in the normal component of the electric flux density. Furthermore, you
can define the total charge or the charge density value.

Boundary Potentials
Finally, you can also assign an electrostatic potential to an electric boundary condition
from within the boundary dialog. Open the boundary dialog box via Simulation: Settings
 Boundaries and select the Boundary Potentials tab: In order to specify a boundary
potential, select the "Floating" type from the drop-down list or select the "Fixed" type and
enter a value in the edit field.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

A boundary potential can be defined on normal or electric boundary conditions only.
Boundaries with different potential values must not be adjacent. Again, you can define
a fixed or floating potential.

Stationary Current Solver

The stationary current solver can be used to simulate DC current distributions. Available
sources are potentials, boundary potentials, current paths, current ports and coil
segments. Additionally, to the modeled structure with defined material properties,
lumped network elements, i.e. resistors, may be added into the computational domain.
The main task for the solver is to calculate the electric field strength, current density and
ohmic losses. These results appear automatically in the navigation tree after the solver
run.

Since the process of defining potential, coil segments, and current path sources is
discussed in the two previous sections, we will focus on the definition of current ports
and contact properties. For a more detailed description of the lumped network element,
we refer to the subsection Lumped Network Elements in the section LF Frequency
Domain Solver.

Parameterized Electrical Conductivity

The stationary current solver supports not only fixed electrical conductivity values
(isotropic or anisotropic) but also temperature-dependent and nonlinear characteristics:
 Temperature-dependent electrical conductivity can be defined by setting the
material Type in the General tab of the Material Parameters dialog box to Temp.
dependent. Then press the Properties button in this tab to open the
Temperature-Dependent Materials dialog box, where you can define the
temperature dependency slope of electrical conductivity. A temperature field
must be imported from a thermal project via Simulation: Sources and Loads 
Field Import .

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  Nonlinear electrical conductivity is defined by creating an E(J) curve in the
Electrical Conductivity Properties dialog box. This dialog is accessible via the
Conductivity tab of the Material Properties dialog box. Here, in the group for
Electrical conductivity check Advanced and press the button Parameters.

Before setting either parameterization, a default non-zero value of electrical conductivity

must be set.

Current Ports

A current port is a face on a conductive material surface, characterized by its normal

direction and the total electric current flowing through it. The usage of current ports is
somewhat different depending on the mesh type utilized by the stationary current
solvers:
 When using hexahedral meshes, the current port must be located on the
computational domain’s boundary.
 For tetrahedral meshes, this limitation does not apply. Besides, for such meshes
the current port can be placed onto a surface between two conductive domains.
In this case the solution guarantees the continuity of the normal component of
current density on both sides of the current port surface.

Note that if no sources with fixed potentials are defined, the sum of the prescribed
currents entering and leaving the computational domain must be zero. Otherwise the

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

problem does not have a stationary solution.

If the stationary current solution is intended to be used as a pre-computation step for a

magnetostatic solution, all the current ports must be located either on the computation
domain’s boundary or between two conductive domains, in order to ensure the
divergence-free current density distribution.

The following picture shows a simple conductive bend inside the computational domain.
The two conducting faces are highlighted.

In order to define a current port on one of these faces, select the current port tool via
Simulation: Sources and Loads  Current Port . Next pick an appropriate face on a
conductive material. A dialog box opens where you can define the port’s name, a folder
where the port is located and the magnitude of the current:

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 Contact Properties
A contact resistance is defined via Simulation: Sources and Loads  Contact Properties
. It is equivalent to a thin layer of conductive material at the interface between two (or
several) solids. The definition is performed by selecting the solids associated with the
“first” and then with the “second” side of the contact surface.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

A contact resistance can be characterized either by a lumped parameter (integral
electrical resistance in Ohm) or by its thickness and conductivity of the material
assigned. Both definitions are equivalent and can be converted into each other:

Here R is the lumped parameter representing integral resistance. In the material-based

representation, electrical conductivity σ and layer thickness l are used. Contact area A
is calculated by the solver.

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 The advantage of contact resistance definition through integral resistance is that it is
independent on the contact area A which may vary in case of intersections of associated
solids or depending on the mesher settings. On the other hand, the material-based
definition offers much more flexibility, for example, it supports nonlinear or temperature-
dependent electrical conductivity via the material definition.

Electrical losses which take place within the contact region are calculated and saved by
the stationary current solver as surface losses, so they can be utilized afterwards for a
thermal analysis.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Contact resistances are only supported by the tetrahedral-based stationary current
solver.

1D Solver Results
After a solver run, all computed 1D Results are located in the navigation tree under
NT: 1D Results  Js Solver. Here, you will find the simulation values for loss power
and source parameters. In a case of setups with coil segment and current ports
connected to the conductors and simulated using the tetrahedral mesh, source
parameters for voltage will include not only the voltages on whole conductive rings, but
also the separate values of voltage drop on the attached conductors. These values in
the navigation tree are provided with the subscript “_conductor”.

LF Frequency Domain Solver

The LF Frequency Domain solver can be used to solve electromagnetic field problems
with time-harmonic sources and linear materials. In this case, all quantities are time-
harmonic and it is possible to solve a complex-valued problem in the frequency domain.

The main task for the solver is to calculate electromagnetic fields and the resulting
currents, losses, energies and source parameters. These results appear automatically
in the navigation tree after the solver run has been finished.

The LF Frequency Domain solver includes the following simulators:

 Full Wave simulator

 Magnetoquasistatic simulator
 Electroquasistatic simulator

The Full Wave simulator solves the full Maxwell’s equations. The magnetoquasistatic
and electroquasistatic simulators can solve low frequency problems with dominating

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 magnetic (e.g. eddy current problems) or electric energy, respectively. A typical
application is the computation of AC current and loss distributions.

In contrast to the static solvers, one or more calculation frequencies must be defined
before the LF frequency domain solver can start. In order to do that, open the frequency
dialog box Simulation: Settings  Frequency for the modelled task:

To add a new frequency to the list, double-click on the empty edit field, enter the value
and confirm with the Enter key. The list becomes operative when you leave the dialog
box by clicking OK.

Full Wave and Magnetoquasistatic Simulator

Available sources are current and voltage paths, current ports, coils and coil segments
including those created from solids. Coils and coil segments can be collected into coil

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

groups.

Coil and current path definitions are discussed in the magnetostatic solver section.
Current ports have been introduced in the stationary current solver section. One minor
difference exists: in addition to the current (or voltage) value, it is possible to assign a
phase value to a current path or a coil (for magnetostatic calculations, this setting is
ignored). Coil segments created from solids have been also presented in the
magnetostatic solver section. Within the magnetoquasistatic simulations however, the
two conductor models exhibit significantly different behavior: solid coil segments are
massive conductors carrying eddy currents and stipulating losses, whereas eddy current
free coil segment sources are not affected by eddy current effects.

Voltage Paths
Voltage paths are similar to the previously described current paths. They are created
from a curve path. A typical application is a voltage path connecting two conducting
regions, defining a voltage between the conductors:

To define a voltage source, activate the appropriate tool via Simulation: Sources and
Loads  Path Sources Voltage Path from Curve . The curve selection modus
enables the selection of the curve that is to be transformed into a voltage path. After the

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 appropriate curve has been selected, the voltage path dialog box appears. Here you can
determine the element’s name, its voltage and phase values.

After the definition is complete, the voltage source is listed in the navigation tree folder
Voltage Paths.

Lumped Network Elements

The full wave and the magnetoquasistatic formulations of the LF Frequency Domain
solver account for the inclusion of the lumped network elements in the simulation
domain. In this context, one can make use of any parallel or serial circuits consisting of
one resistor, one capacitor and one inductor. To add a new network, open the lumped
element dialog box, Simulation: Sources and Loads  Lumped Element :

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

In the lumped network element dialog box, the element values as well as the connection
type for a lumped element – serial or parallel – are defined. Furthermore, the geometrical

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 location of the lumped element is set in the dialog box, i.e. the starting point and ending
point of the network in the computational domain.

Nonlinear equivalent permeability

The magnentoquasistatic frequency domain solver supports nonlinear material
properties (B(H)) via a linear equivalent permeability computation. Note that this is an
approximation; for fully nonlinear time-dependent calculations the LF time domain solver
should be employed. Additionally, the LF frequency domain magnetoquasistatic solver
supports time dependent nonlinear (B(H)) and linear material properties with coupling to
CST MPhysics Studio. More information on these topics can be found in the online help.

1D Solver Results
After a solver run, all computed 1D Results are located in the navigation tree under
NT: 1D Results LF Solver. Here, you will find the simulation values for losses,
energies and source parameters. Sources parameters for the tetrahedral full 3D
frequency solver as well as for the broadband simulation regime described below are
currents, voltages, induced voltages and flux linkages. For the setups consisting of
conductors attached to the coil segments and/or current ports, the computed source
parameters are always the results for the whole current loops.

Broadband simulation regime

For the magnentoquasistatic simulator when using a tetrahedral mesh, a broadband
calculation regime is available, which allows the lf-stable broadband calculation of

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

impedance matrices as well as broadband source parameters, lumped parameters,
energies and losses from zero frequency to a specified maximum frequency. Broadband
lumped parameters include inductance, resistance, DC-resistance and conductance
matrices. For the setups consisting of conductors attached to the coil segments and/or
current ports, the computed broadband source and lumped parameters are always the
results for the whole current loops. Additionally, in contrast to the standard full 3D
frequency sweep where the solution of a large linear system is required for each
calculation frequency, a faster frequency sweep is available where only a much smaller
system has to be solved for each frequency value. Thus, this calculation mode should
be the method of choice if solutions for multiple frequencies and/or broadband 1D results
are required.

Furthermore, the broadband formulation allows for a deduction of a macro-model

representation of a field model, which finally results in the authoring of a reduced order
models as a Functional Mockup Units according to the FMI standard. The created .fmu
archive is issued automatically as soon as a broadband simulation is chosen and can
be imported into any simulation tool capable to interpret the FMI standard for Model
Exchange.

Electroquasistatic Simulator
In the electroquasistatic approximation of the full Maxwell’s equations, the time
derivative of the magnetic field is ignored in the Faraday-law. Hence, the computed
electric field is curl-free in the whole space. Consequently, electroquasistatic problems
can be described by a complex scalar potential, which reduces the number of unknowns
in the equation system to be solved.

Thus, running the electroquasistatic simulator is usually much faster and more robust
than running the full wave simulator on the same mesh. Whenever the time derivative
of the magnetic field is negligible in Faraday’s law, you should use the electroquasistatic
solver to solve your low frequency problem. Typical applications are insulator problems,
where the conductivities and magnetic field energies are very low.

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 Potentials are available as excitation sources. These are already discussed in the
electrostatic solver section. Again, a minor difference exists: In addition to the potential
value, it is possible to assign a phase value (for electrostatic calculations this setting is
ignored). Please refer to the online help for further details.

LF Time Domain Solver

The LF Time Domain solver can be used to solve electromagnetic field problems with
the time-dependent sources driven at low frequencies. This solver includes the following
simulators:

 Magnetoquasistatic simulator
 Electroquasistatic simulator

The solver features both a constant and an adaptive implicit time-stepping algorithm.
The adaptive time-stepping scheme requires solving four linear or nonlinear systems of
equations in each time step.
Furthermore, if the solution of the investigated problem is known to be periodic in time,
the LF time domain solver provides a dedicated steady state time-stepping algorithm,
which may accelerate the calculation of the steady state solution. The online help
provides further information on the steady state solver.

Magnetoquasistatic Simulator

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In the magnetoquasistatic approximation of the Maxwell’s equations, the time derivative
of the displacement current can be omitted with respect to the conduction currents.
Typical use cases are the nonlinear eddy current problems or transient simulations (e.g.
switching devices, actuators, sensors).

Within the simulator, supported excitation sources are permanent magnets, current- and
voltage-driven coils and wires, coil segments including those created from solids, coil
groups, current ports, transient external magnetic source fields and rigid body motions.

The main task for the simulator is to calculate the time evolution of the magnetic and
current fields as well as the resulting losses, energies, source parameters and other
derived quantities like e.g., forces. Sources parameters are currents, voltages, induced
voltages and flux linkages. For the setups consisting of conductors attached to the coil
segments and/or current ports, the computed source parameters are always the results
for the whole current loops.

For 2D models where the period of the fundamental frequency is known a priory, the
steady state detection mode can be activated. In this case, the solver stops as soon as
a steady state solution based on the ohmic loss computations has been reached. For
more information on the steady state detection solver mode please refer to the
corresponding pages in the online help.

Electroquasistatic Simulator
The electroquasistatic approximation of the Maxwell’s equations is employed when the
influence of the magnetic induction can be neglected. Thus, a description of an
electroquasistatic field is completed by a scalar potential function which reduces the
number of unknowns in the equation system to be solved. Typical use case includes,
e.g., a high-voltage bushing.

Electrical potentials are available as excitation sources. These are already discussed in
the electrostatic solver section. Please note here again: The Phase value, which can be

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 defined together with the potential value, is relevant only for LF Frequency Domain
simulations and thus will be ignored by the described simulator.

Workflow
The workflow for a time domain simulation is very similar to the workflow of static and
time harmonic simulations. However, some additional steps must be performed before
the solver is started:

1. One or more excitation signals must be defined.

2. Excitation signals must be associated with the sources.
3. Monitors must be defined.
4. A simulation duration must be set.

These differences result from the fact that additional information is necessary about the
time evolution of the excitations and the size of the time interval of interest. Furthermore,
storing the whole evolution of all computationally available results needs a lot of disk
space. For this reason, the concept of time monitors is introduced, which allows a more
specific definition of the results of interest.

Note: The excitation definition as well as the usage of monitors in CST EM Studio is
very similar to those available in CST Microwave Studio.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

The following subsections will describe these additional steps in short. For more detailed
information, please refer to the online help.

Signal Definition
In a new project, only a constant "default" signal is defined. For a meaningful simulation
with the LF Time Domain Solver, at least one non-constant signal should be defined.

A new signal can be defined via Simulation: Sources and Loads  Signals  New
Excitation Signal . A dialog box opens where a signal type, its parameters and a name
can be set:

The parameters of the signal depend on the individual signal type and are described in
the online help. The parameter Ttotal must be set for almost all signal types and defines

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 the size of the definition interval. For time values larger than Ttotal, the signal is, in
general, continued by a constant value. It is also possible to import a signal or to create
a user defined signal or to select a pre-defined signal from the signal database.

All defined signals are visible in the Excitation Signal folder in the navigation tree.

A signal can be displayed by selecting it in the navigation tree:

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Excitations: Assigning Signals to Sources
As for the static solvers, the source value defines the strength of a source field. The time
evolution of a source is defined by assigning a signal to it.

This can be done by opening the solver dialog box via Home: Simulation  Setup Solver
and pressing the Excitations… button:

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 A sub-dialog opens showing each defined source that can be interpreted by the solver.
Also the source values are displayed. Each source can be switched on or off for the
simulation. By default, all sources are switched on.

For each source, a signal can be assigned via a drop-down list. The same signal can be
assigned to several sources. Optionally, an individual time delay  t can be defined for
each source.

The resulting time dependent excitation f is the product of the source value v (e.g. the
coil current) and the (possibly shifted) assigned signal s :

f (t )  s(t  t )  v .

Example

Two sources are defined, one current path with source current 1 A and one coil, also
carrying 1 A in each turn. A previously defined signal "signal1" (see image below) is
assigned to both sources.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

The signal of the coil is shifted by 0.5 s by clicking in the field in column Time shift. With
these settings, the Excitation Selection dialog will look like this:

For this example, the resulting excitations used by the solver look like this:

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 Reference Signal
There is always one signal tagged as the 'reference signal'. This signal is highlighted in
the navigation tree by a yellow background. The reference signal can be changed by
marking another signal in the navigation tree and selecting Simulation: Sources and
Loads  Signal  Use as Reference.

By default, all sources are set to use the currently defined reference signal. Hence, it is
not necessary to visit the Excitations sub-dialog of the solver dialog if only one source
or only one signal shall be used for the simulation. Then, it is sufficient to select the

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

desired signal being the reference signal and by default all sources are automatically
assigned to this signal.

Rigid Body Motion Definition

The 2D and 3D magnetoquasistatic time domain solver allows for the definition of
periodic rotational or translational rigid body motions, which can be used for the
simulation of electrical machines and actuators. The movement is described by the
mechanical motion definition and the motion Gap. The mechanical motion definition
defines the absolute movement in time of the moving objects and the moving direction
for translations or rotation axis and its center for rotations. The absolute movement in
time can be defined by a constant motion, by a time signal or by an equation of motion.
The motion Gap is a closed surface that surrounds the moving objects and is located in
the air gap between moving and static objects. Multiple motions including nested gaps
can be defined if the gap surfaces do not intersect and the following limitations do apply.

Limitations for nested gaps definition

If nested gaps are defined, the absolute value of the speed defined in the dialog applies
for the gap parts which are not part of any other gap nested inside the gap. It is possible
to have one of the following combinations of nested gaps:

 Rotation gaps inside rotation gaps with possibly nested gaps

 Translation gaps inside translation gaps with possibly nested gaps
 Rotation gaps inside translation gaps with possibly nested rotation gaps

It is not possible to define the following (intersecting) combination of gaps:

 Translation gap inside a rotation gap, because the translation gap is required to
touch the model boundaries

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 Rotation definition

A new rotational motion is defined by opening the Define a Rotational Motion dialog via
Simulation: Motion  Motion  New Rotation :

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The rotation axis is defined in the active working coordinate system and must be aligned
with one of the global axes, and in case of 2D simulations, with the normal of the 2D
planar mesh. The center of the rotation axis is defined by the coordinates U center, V
center and W center.
The movement can be specified as one of the following:

 Constant defined by the Angular velocity (revolutions per minute, rpm) and the
Initial angle (degrees)
 Signal based, which allows the selection of a previously defined excitation
signal (with the y-component in radians and the time axis in user units)
 Equation of motion defined by the solid parameters Moment of inertia (kg·m2),
Damping constant (kg·m2/(s·rad)), Torsion spring (N·m/rad), External torque
(N·m), Initial position (degree) and Initial speed (rpm). At least the Moment of
inertia must be non-zero in order to allow the calculation of motion.

The rotational motion gap is defined by clicking on one of the options on the Active gap
drop-down menu ([New gap from polygon] or [New gap from radius]). If you already have
closed the dialog box, you can define a new gap by selecting the corresponding entry
from the context menu, when selecting the newly defined rotation item in the navigation
tree.

While the Radius gap definition mode is active, the specified rotation axis is shown and
you can define an outer and an inner radius in the plane normal to the rotation axis. All
values can be reviewed and edited in the Create Rotation Gap from Radius dialog box
after closing the gap definition mode.

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 While the polygon gap definition mode is active, a working coordinate system is shown
with the Z axis pointing in the direction of the specified rotation axis. Now you can define
a (closed) polygon in the plane normal to Z, which then will be rotated around the Z axis.
The polygon is automatically closed if you select the option project to rotation axis for
the Start / End point. The coordinates of the polygon points can be reviewed and edited
in the Points table of the Define Rotation Gap Profile dialog box:

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It is possible to create more than one gap for a motion, but only one of them can be
active before starting the simulation. To activate a gap please use the context menu
option Select as Active Gap in NT  Motion  Motion name  Gap name.

Translation definition

A new translational motion is defined by opening the Define a Translational Motion via
Simulation: Motion  Motion  New Translation .

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 The translation Direction is defined as one of the axes (U, V or W) in the active working
coordinate system with the translation direction being aligned with one of the axes of the
global coordinate system. Furthermore, the translation direction should be found in the
planar mesh plane for a translational planar mesh and parallel to the axis for a rotational
planar mesh. The Periodicity of the boundaries normal to the translation direction can
be Periodic or Antiperiodic.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

The Movement can be defined as one of the following:

 Constant defined by the Velocity (m/s) and the Offset (m)

 Signal based, which allows the selection of a previously defined signal (with the
y-component in m and the time axis in user units)
 Equation of motion defined by the solid parameters Mass (kg), Damping
constant (N·s/m), Spring constant (N/m), External force (N), Initial position (m)
and Initial velocity (m/s). At least the Mass must be non-zero in order to allow
the calculation of motion.

The translational motion gap is defined by clicking on one of the options on the Active
gap drop-down menu ([New gap from polygon] or [New gap from circle]). If you already
have closed the define motion dialog boxes without defining a gap, you can define a
new gap by selecting the corresponding entry from the context menu NT  Motion 
Motion name  Gap name.

The Polygon translational gap tool allows the definition of a closed polygon in a plane
normal to the movement direction. The translation gap is defined by extrusion of the
polygon between the two outer boundaries of the model. While the gap definition mode
is active, a working coordinate system is shown with the W’ axis aligned with the
translation direction. Now you can define a (closed) polygon in the U’-V’ plane. The
coordinates of the polygon points can be reviewed and edited in the Points table of the
Create Translation Gap Profile dialog box.

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 The Circle translational gap tool allows definition of the circular profile gap. This is useful
if a rotational planar calculation is done, which allows motion only in the rotational axis
direction. While the gap definition mode is active, a helper coordinate system is shown
with the W’ axis pointing toward the translation direction. Now you can define a center
point and an inner and outer radius of the cylindrical extrusion gap in the U’-V’ plane. All
values can be reviewed and edited in the Create Cylindrical Extrusion Gap dialog box

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

after closing the gap definition mode.

It is possible to create more than one gap for a motion but only one of them can be active
before starting the simulation. To activate a gap, please use the context menu option
Select as Activate Gap in NT  Motion  Motion name  Gap name.

Monitor Definition
In contrast to the static and time-harmonic solvers, where all simulation results will
appear automatically in the navigation tree, only so-called automatic 1D results will be
produced by the transient solver and located in the navigation tree under NT: 1D
Results LT Solver. Here, you will find the simulated over the time values for losses
and energy. For magnetoquasistatic simulations also a co-energy and source
parameters are automatically computed. For coils and/or current ports additionally
induced voltages and flux linkages will be shown. For the setups consisting of
conductors attached to the coil segments and/or current ports, the computed source
parameters are always the results for the whole closed current loops.

It is not possible to store all the fields and secondary results at every computed time
step as this would require a tremendous amount of disk and memory space. That is why
the idea of Monitor definition has been introduced into the solver. In this definition, you
can specify which certain results and at which time intervals the solver will record the
desired data.

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 Several different kinds of monitors are available in CST EM Studio: 3D Field Monitors,
Monitors at Points, Monitors on Edges or Curves, Monitors on Faces and Monitors on
Solids or Volumes. The 3D Field Monitors yield field plots, which can be animated over
the simulated time. The other monitors are classified by the objects on which appropriate
integral functionals are defined. They yield 1D curves of scalar values versus the
simulated time.

All defined monitors are listed in appropriate subfolders of the Monitors folder in the
navigation tree. Within this folder, you may select a particular monitor to reveal its
parameters in the main view.

3D Field Monitors

Several kinds of monitors record 3D vector or scalar fields (e.g. B-field, H-field, E-field,
conductive current density, etc.). A 3D Field Monitor can be defined via Simulation:
Monitors  Field Monitor . A dialog box opens where the type of the field, the start
time and the sample step width can be defined:

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Available field types for the magnetoquasistatic simulator are B-Field, H-Field, E-Field,
Cond. Current Densities, Potential (only for 2D models showing the magnetic vector
potential), Material (showing the relative permeability), Ohmic Losses, Averaged Ohmic
Losses, and Magnetic Energy Density.
Within the electroquasistatic simulator, the time evolution of the E-field, D-field, Cond.
and Displ. Current Densities as well as Potential (showing the scalar electric potential)
can be monitored.

After the solver run, the recorded result can be accessed via the NT: 2D/3D Results
folder in the navigation tree. The scalar or vector field can be animated over the defined
time period.

Monitors at Points

These kinds of monitors record scalar values that are defined at a point (previously
picked or entered numerically), e.g. the x-component of the magnetic flux density at a
fixed position. Such a monitor can be created via Simulation: Monitors  Monitor on
Entity  Monitor at Point .

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 The magnetoquasistatic solver supports following monitor types: B-Field, H-Field,
E-Field, Cond. Current Density, Material, Potential (magnetic vector potential, only
available for 2D simulations), and Ohmic Losses.
For the electroquasistatic solver, available monitor types are E-field, D-field, Cond. and
Displ. Current Densities and Potential (the scalar electric potential).

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

The monitor generates a 1D-plot over time during the solver run. The result plot can be
accessed in the NT: 1D Results  LT Solver folder.

Please note that this kind of monitor is similar, although not identical, to Probes available
within CST Microwave Studio.

Monitors on Edges or Curves

These kinds of monitors record scalar values that are defined for (previously picked via
(Simulation: Picks  Picks ) model edges or on curve items. Currently available are
the voltage and the source current along a path. You can create it via Simulation:
Monitors  Monitor on Entity  Monitor on Edge

Again, the monitor generates a 1D-plot over time during the solver run and the result
plot can be accessed in the NT: 1D Results  LT Solver folder.

Monitors on Faces

These kinds of monitors record scalar values that are defined for (connected set of)
model faces, which have to be picked (Simulation: Picks  Picks ) before the monitor

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 definition. For the 3D magnetoquasistatic simulations, magnetic flux and conduction
current monitors are supported. You can create them via Simulation: Monitors 
Monitor on Entity  Monitor on Face .

Again, the monitor generates a 1D-plot over time during the solver run and the result
plot can be accessed in the NT: 1D Results  LT Solver folder.

For the electroquasistatic simulator, this monitor type is not supported.

Monitors on Solids or Volumes

Within the magnetoquasistatic simulator, these kinds of monitors record values that are
defined for a solid, volume or a group of solids (the force on a solid etc.). You can create
it via Simulation: Monitors  Monitor on Entity  Monitors on Volume .

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Available monitor types for the magnetoquasistatic simulator are: Ohmic Losses, Force
and Torque, Iron Losses, Apparent and Incremental Inductance Matrices as well as
Demagnetization.

Again, the monitor generates a 1D-plot over the time during the solver run (or in case of
Force monitors one 1D-plot per component) and the result plot can be accessed in the
NT: 1D Results  LT Solver folder. The demagnetization monitor does not generate a
1D-plot but only gives a warning if the maximum demagnetizing field strength is higher
than the set value and generates a 3D Field monitor similar plot with the distribution of
the maximum demagnetization field strength in solids. The iron loss monitor also
generates a plot with the distribution of the iron losses in solids along with the calculated
loss in the NT: 1D Results  LT Solver folder.

The monitors can be defined everywhere, on a certain solid or on groups of solids. The
groups of solids are defined in NT: Groups as Normal Groups and are populated with
solids via Drag&Drop.

This monitor type is not supported for the electroquasistatic simulator.

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 Starting the Simulation
As already mentioned, the solver dialog box can be opened via Home: Simulation 
Setup Solver . Firstly, define the Equation type you are going to employ. Secondly,
before starting the simulation, the Simulation duration must be entered. This value
defines the length of the simulated time interval in the currently active time unit. Note
that every simulation starts at time zero.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

If at least one non-constant signal is in use, the maximum over all assigned time signal
is displayed below the duration entry field (taking possible time shifts into account). This
information gives some hint for a reasonable simulation duration and can be used for
cross-checking, e.g. to ensure that signals and simulation duration are defined for a
similar time period and scale.

Two different time-stepping strategies are available for the solver: Constant and
adaptive time-stepping. By default, the constant time-stepping is enabled, which should
always be used for simulations that contain rigid body motion. The adaptive time-
stepping may be used for simulation without motion, especially for calculation with a
fading transient component since the adaptive strategy may be more efficient in this
case.

The default settings for the constant time-step algorithm are accessible in the Time step
settings dialog after selecting Properties and are set to 40 steps for the simulation
duration. This default setting should be changed to allow a sufficient discretization of the
time axis considering the expected signals variation in the simulation time.

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 If adaptive time-stepping is preferred, you need to switch the Method to High Order and
then select the Adaptive time step radio button. It is a good idea to have a look at the
parameters of the adaptive time-stepping scheme before starting the simulation. The
parameters can be displayed and modified in the Time step settings sub-dialog, which
can be activated by pressing the Properties button:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

The most important value is the Relative error tolerance. The smaller this value the more
rigorous is the behavior of the adaptive scheme, leading to smaller time steps and
smaller time-discretization errors. On the other hand, smaller time steps will increase
the simulation time. Furthermore, you can define upper and lower bounds for the size of
a time step and set the size of the initial time step. If you have some knowledge about
typical time scales of your model, it might be meaningful to modify the default settings.

Note that for some problems it may be also necessary to increase the accuracy for the
solution of the linear (or respectively nonlinear) systems of equations that are solved for
each time step. This can be done by choosing the necessary Accuracy in the solver start
up dialog box. However, in most cases, the default-settings can be left unchanged.

Finally, the LF Time Domain solver can be started by pressing the Start button and the
results can be analyzed.

Coupled Simulations with CST MPhysics Studio

Ohmic and iron losses from the solvers of CST EM Studio can be imported by the
thermal solvers of CST MPhysics Studio to conduct a thermal analysis. The temperature
fields calculated by the thermal solvers can then be used to update temperature
dependent material properties in the stationary current solver or the LF frequency
domain solver. In addition, the Mechanical Solver of CST MPhysics Studio can be
employed to perform continuative stress simulation for a given temperature distribution.

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 Moreover, force density distributions from magnetostatic or electrostatic simulations can
be fed into the mechanical solver as well.

Please refer to the CST MPhysics Studio Workflow document for more detailed
information about these multi-physics workflows.

Equivalent Circuit EMS/DS Co-Simulation

Equivalent circuit parameters describing the physical behavior of the field part of a CST
EM Studio model can be used for co-simulations within CST Design Studio. The
extraction of the lumped parameters from the field model is supported by the following
tetrahedral mesh based solvers:
 Electrostatic Solver
 Magnetostatic Solver (linear and nonlinear problems)
 Stationary Current Solver
Please note: For nonlinear problems, the equivalent circuit parameters are calculated in
the working point determined by the excitation sources defined within CST EM Studio.
To cover the full parameter space of a nonlinear model, a parameter sweep can be used
to retrieve the required data in a convenient way.

For further information, please refer to the examples within the Equivalent Circuit
EMS/DS Co-Simulation section contained in the CST EMS Examples of the online help
system.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

State Space Model
The 2D/3D magnetostatic simulators offer a possibility to compress the equivalent circuit
parameters describing the physical behavior of the field part of the model into a so-called
state space model. This feature is useful for exporting accurate reduced order models
of e.g. actuators to system simulators. For models composed of nonlinear materials, the
lumped parameters are calculated in the working point determined by the excitation
sources.

The extraction of a state space model is realized through the embedded mechanism
called “Export State Space Model” available via Simulation: Solver  State Space
Model:

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 In this dialog box, the user can define the name of the state-space model and specify
which sources have to be involved. Within the magnetostatic solver, the export to CST
Design Studio simulators is possible.
Since the export is realized on the basis of the lumped parameters, a sufficient amount
of data has to be prepared in advance. This ensures the availability of the required
values to interpolate the state space model during a system simulator run. For this
purpose, the Parameter Sweep option is available directly from the State Space Model
dialog box. The lumped parameters employed in the presence electromagnetic
excitation sources are incremental inductances. For the magnetostatic solver, the
calculation of the incremental inductance has to be activated within the solver dialog
Parameters dialog box before the collection of data for the state-space model starts.
The preparation of the numerical data for the state-space model is launched with the
Start button of the embedded Parameter Sweep dialog. During this process, a large
number of working points is calculated and stored parametrically within the
corresponding CST EM Studio project.

After the calculation of all working points is finished, the state space model of a system
is extracted into the binary file specified by the Export State Space Model dialog box.
This file contains the serialization of the calculated working points, which is used as a
basis for the calculation of the lumped parameters during the system simulation. The
serialized data can then be imported by CST Design Studio.

For more information on the coupled simulation based on the state space model

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concept, please refer to the online help.

Electrical Machine Task

For fast and convenient configuration of electrical machine models, the electrical
machine task is available in the system assembly modeler (SAM). The task allows the
simulation of predefined typical drive scenarios for usual electrical machine types. For
further details on the electrical machine task workflow, the component library includes
preconfigured drive scenarios and electrical machines elaborating the workflow.

Partial RLC Solver

The Partial RLC Solver can be used for calculation of equivalent circuit parameters
(partial inductances, resistances, and capacitances) and features optional SPICE
export. It is of use in the following fields of application, e.g., printed circuit boards,
packaging problems, and network parameter extraction.
The excitation for this solver uses RLC nodes. Please refer to the online documentation
for information on how to set up models for this solver.

Drift-Diffusion Solver
The Drift-Diffusion Solver can be used to simulate semiconductor devices with
dimensions in the micrometer range, which can be modelled by a classical description.
The solver computes the stationary electron and hole distributions, which arise from
applied voltages. Typical applications include np-junctions or optical modulators.

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 The solver uses a standard approach to solve the coupled equation system of the
density distributions and the electrostatic potential. This scheme is typically referred to
as Gummel iteration in literature. One iteration carries out the following steps: calculation
of the electrostatic field and a subsequent sequentially calculation of the electron and
hole densities. These steps are repeated until the specified convergence criterion has
been reached.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2023

Please refer to the online documentation for additional information.

Boundary Conditions
The drift-diffusion solver supports two types of boundary conditions: electric (flux normal
to boundary is zero) and magnetic (flux tangential to boundary is zero). Electric boundary
conditions allow specifying potentials and carrier boundary conditions without defining
PEC contacts for the model. Magnetic boundary conditions truncate the simulation
domain.

Potential Sources and Boundary Potentials

The most important electrostatic source type is a potential definition. A potential is
defined on a perfect electric conductor. Please refer to the electrostatic solver for a
detailed description of Potential Sources and Boundary Potentials.

Doping Density
The most important carrier source type is the doping density. An impurity is attributed to
a body which material is not a perfect electric conductor (the solid has to be assigned to
PEC material). The definition of a new doping density is similar to defining a Potential
Sources. A new doping density is activated via Navigation Tree  Doping Density .
The first step is to select the surface of a body carrying the new impurity. After a surface
has been selected, the doping density dialog appears to assign a Name, Folder Name,
Acceptor density and Donator density.

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 Semiconductor Material Models
Different material models are applicable for a semiconductor material. The mobility
offers the functionality to define a Lattice Scattering model. Following models for adding
volumetric carrier recombination and generation terms to the simulation exist: Auger
recombination, band-to-band recombination, impact ionization, optically induced carrier
generation and Shockley-Read-Hall recombination. These settings can be changed by
opening the material dialog through the Navigation Tree  Materials  Material Name
and switching to the Semiconductor property tab.

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 Chapter 4 – Finding Further Information
After having read this manual carefully, you should already have some idea of how to
use CST EM Studio efficiently for your own problems. However, when you are creating
your own first models, some questions will arise. In this chapter, we give you a short
overview of the available documentation.

The QuickStart Guide

The main task of the QuickStart Guide is to remind you to complete all necessary steps
in order to perform a simulation successfully. Especially for new users – or for those
rarely using the software – it may be helpful to have some assistance.

The QuickStart Guide is opened automatically on each project start, when the checkbox
File: Options  Preferences  Open QuickStart Guide on project load is checked.
Alternatively, you may start this assistant at any time by selecting QuickStart Guide from
the Help button in the upper right corner.

When the QuickStart Guide is launched, a dialog box opens showing a list of tasks,
where each item represents a step in the model definition and simulation process.
Usually, a project template will already set the problem type and initialize some basic
settings like units and background properties. Otherwise, the QuickStart Guide will first
open a dialog box in which you can specify the type of calculation you wish to analyze
and proceed with the Next button:

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As soon as you have successfully completed a step, the corresponding item will be
checked and the next necessary step will be highlighted. You may, however, change
any of your previous settings throughout the procedure.

In order to access information about the QuickStart Guide itself, click the Help button.
To obtain more information about a particular operation, click on the appropriate item in
the QuickStart Guide.

Online Documentation
The online help system is your primary source of information. You can access the help
system’s overview page at any time by choosing File: Help  Help . The online help
system includes a powerful full text search engine.

In each of the dialog boxes, there is a specific Help button, which directly opens the
corresponding manual page. Additionally, the F1 key gives some context sensitive help
when a particular mode is active. For instance, by pressing the F1 key while a block is
selected, you will obtain some information about the block’s properties.

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 When no specific information is available, pressing the F1 key will open an overview
page from which you may navigate through the help system.

Please refer to the CST Studio Suite - Getting Started manual to find some more detailed
explanations about the usage of the CST Studio Suite Online Documentation.

Tutorials and Examples

The component library provides tutorials and examples, which are generally your first
source of information when trying to solve a particular problem. See also the explanation
given when following the Tutorials and Examples Overview link on the online help
system’s start page. We recommend that you browse through the list of all available
tutorials and examples and choose the one closest to your application.

Technical Support
Before contacting Technical Support, you should check the online help system. If this
does not help to solve your problem, you find additional information in the Knowledge
Base and obtain general product support at 3DS.com/Support.

Macro Language Documentation

More information concerning the built-in macro language for a particular module can be
accessed from within the online help system’s VBA book: Visual Basic (VBA) Language.
The macro language’s documentation consists of four parts:

 An overview and a general description of the macro language.

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 A description of all specific macro language extensions.
 A syntax reference of the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) compatible macro
language.
 Some documented macro examples.

History of Changes
An overview of important changes in the latest version of the software can be obtained
by following the What’s New in this Version link on the help system’s main page or
from the File: Help backstage page. Since there are many new features in each new
version, you should browse through these lists even if you are already familiar with one
of the previous releases.

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