electromagneticProperties

(To be removed) Assign properties of material for electromagnetic model

Since R2021a

electromagneticProperties will be removed. Use materialProperties instead. (since R2023a) For more information on updating your code, see Version History.

Syntax

electromagneticProperties(emagmodel,"RelativePermittivity",epsilon)

electromagneticProperties(emagmodel,"RelativePermeability",mu)

electromagneticProperties(emagmodel,"Conductivity",sigma)

electromagneticProperties(emagmodel,"RelativePermittivity",epsilon,"RelativePermeability",mu,"Conductivity",sigma)

electromagneticProperties(___,RegionType,RegionID)

mtl = electromagneticProperties(___)

Description

electromagneticProperties(emagmodel,"RelativePermittivity",epsilon) assigns the relative permittivity epsilon to the entire geometry. Specify the permittivity of vacuum using the electromagnetic model properties. The solver uses a relative permittivity for electrostatic and harmonic analyses.

For a nonconstant material, specify epsilon as a function handle.

electromagneticProperties(emagmodel,"RelativePermeability",mu) assigns the relative permeability to the entire geometry. Specify the permeability of vacuum using the electromagnetic model properties. The solver uses a relative permeability for magnetostatic and harmonic analyses.

For a nonconstant material, specify mu as a function handle.

electromagneticProperties(emagmodel,"Conductivity",sigma) assigns the conductivity to the entire geometry. The solver uses a conductivity for DC conduction and harmonic analyses.

For a nonconstant material, specify sigma as a function handle.

electromagneticProperties(emagmodel,"RelativePermittivity",epsilon,"RelativePermeability",mu,"Conductivity",sigma) assigns the relative permittivity, relative permeability, and conductivity to the entire geometry. Specify the permittivity and permeability of vacuum using the electromagnetic model properties. The solver requires all three parameters for a harmonic analysis.

For a nonconstant material, specify epsilon, mu, and sigma as function handles.

electromagneticProperties(___,RegionType,RegionID) assigns the material properties to specified faces of a 2-D geometry or cells of a 3-D geometry. Use this syntax with any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.

mtl = electromagneticProperties(___) returns the material properties object.

Examples

Specify Relative Permittivity

Specify relative permittivity for an electrostatic analysis.

Create an electromagnetic model for electrostatic analysis.

emagmodel = createpde("electromagnetic","electrostatic");

Import and plot a geometry of a plate with a hole in its center.

gm = importGeometry(emagmodel,"PlateHoleSolid.stl");
pdegplot(gm)

Specify the vacuum permittivity value in the SI system of units.

emagmodel.VacuumPermittivity = 8.8541878128E-12;

Specify the relative permittivity of the material.

mtl = electromagneticProperties(emagmodel,"RelativePermittivity",2.25)

mtl = 
  ElectromagneticMaterialAssignment with properties:

              RegionType: 'Cell'
                RegionID: 1
    RelativePermittivity: 2.2500
    RelativePermeability: []
            Conductivity: []

Input Arguments

emagmodel — Electromagnetic model

ElectromagneticModel object

Electromagnetic model, specified as an ElectromagneticModel object. The model contains a geometry, a mesh, the electromagnetic properties of the material, the electromagnetic sources, and the boundary conditions.

epsilon — Relative permittivity

number | function handle

Relative permittivity, specified as a number or a function handle.

• Use a positive number to specify a relative permittivity for an electrostatic analysis.

• Use a real or complex number to specify a relative permittivity for a harmonic electromagnetic analysis.

• Use a function handle to specify a relative permittivity that depends on the coordinates and, for a harmonic analysis, on the frequency.

For details, see More About.

Data Types: double | function_handle
Complex Number Support: Yes

mu — Relative permeability

positive number | complex number | function handle

Relative permeability, specified as a positive or complex number or a function handle.

• Use a positive number to specify a relative permeability for a magnetostatic analysis.

• Use a complex number to specify a relative permeability for а harmonic electromagnetic analysis.

• Use a function handle to specify a relative permeability that depends on the coordinates and, for a harmonic analysis, on the frequency.

For details, see More About.

Data Types: double | function_handle
Complex Number Support: Yes

sigma — Conductivity

nonnegative number | function handle

Conductivity, specified as a nonnegative number or a function handle. Use a function handle to specify a conductivity that depends on the coordinates and, for a harmonic analysis, on the frequency. For details, see More About.

Data Types: double | function_handle

RegionType — Geometric region type

"Face" for a 2-D model | "Cell" for a 3-D model

Geometric region type, specified as "Face" for a 2-D geometry or "Cell" for a 3-D geometry.

Data Types: char | string

RegionID — Region ID

vector of positive integers

Region ID, specified as a vector of positive integers. Find the face or cell IDs by using pdegplot with the "FaceLabels" or "CellLabels" name-value argument set to "on".

Example: electromagneticProperties(emagmodel,"RelativePermeability",5000,"Face",1:3)

Data Types: double

Output Arguments

mtl — Handle to material properties

ElectromagneticMaterialAssignment object

Handle to material properties, returned as an ElectromagneticMaterialAssignment object. For more information, see ElectromagneticMaterialAssignment Properties.

mtl associates material properties with the geometric faces.

More About

Specifying Nonconstant Parameters of Electromagnetic Model

In Partial Differential Equation Toolbox™, use a function handle to specify these electromagnetic parameters when they depend on the coordinates and, for a harmonic analysis, on the frequency:

• Relative permittivity of the material

• Relative permeability of the material

• Conductivity of the material

• Charge density as source (can depend on space only)

• Current density as source (can depend on space only)

• Magnetization (can depend on space only)

• Voltage on the boundary (can depend on space only)

• Magnetic potential on the boundary (can depend on space only)

• Electric field on the boundary (can depend on space only)

• Magnetic field on the boundary (can depend on space only)

• Surface current density on the boundary (can depend on space only)

For example, use function handles to specify the relative permittivity, charge density, and voltage on the boundary for emagmodel.

electromagneticProperties(emagmodel, ...
                          "RelativePermittivity", ...
                          @myfunPermittivity)
electromagneticSource(emagmodel, ...
                      "ChargeDensity",@myfunCharge, ...
                      "Face",2)
electromagneticBC(emagmodel, ...
                  "Voltage",@myfunBC, ...
                  "Edge",2)

The function must be of the form:

function emagVal = myfun(location,state)

The solver computes and populates the data in the location and state structure arrays and passes this data to your function. You can define your function so that its output depends on this data. You can use any names in place of location and state.

If you call electromagneticBC with Vectorized set to "on", then location can contain several evaluation points. If you do not set Vectorized or set Vectorized to "off", then the solver passes just one evaluation point in each call.

• location — A structure array containing these fields:

  • location.x — The x-coordinate of the point or points

  • location.y — The y-coordinate of the point or points

  • location.z — For a 3-D or an axisymmetric geometry, the z-coordinate of the point or points

  • location.r — For an axisymmetric geometry, the r-coordinate of the point or points

  Furthermore, for boundary conditions, the solver passes this data in the location structure:

  • location.nx — The x-component of the normal vector at the evaluation point or points

  • location.ny — The y-component of the normal vector at the evaluation point or points

  • location.nz — For a 3-D or an axisymmetric geometry, the z-component of the normal vector at the evaluation point or points

  • location.nr — For an axisymmetric geometry, the r-component of the normal vector at the evaluation point or points

• state — A structure array containing this field for a harmonic electromagnetic problem:

  • state.frequency - Frequency at evaluation points

Relative permittivity, relative permeability, and conductivity get this data from the solver:

• location.x, location.y, location.z, location.r

• state.frequency for a harmonic analysis

• Subdomain ID

Charge density, current density, magnetization, surface current density on the boundary, and electric or magnetic field on the boundary get this data from the solver:

• location.x, location.y, location.z, location.r

• Subdomain ID

Voltage or magnetic potential on the boundary get these data from the solver:

• location.x, location.y, location.z, location.r

• location.nx, location.ny, location.nz, location.nr

When you solve an electrostatic, magnetostatic, or DC conduction problem, the output returned by the function handle must be of the following size. Here, Np = numel(location.x) is the number of points.

• 1-by-Np if a function specifies the nonconstant relative permittivity, relative permeability, or charge density. For the charge density, the output can also be Np-by-1.

• 1-by-Np for a 2-D model and 3-by-Np for a 3-D model if a function specifies the nonconstant current density and magnetic potential on the boundary. For the current density, the output can also be Np-by-1 or Np-by-3.

• 2-by-Np for a 2-D model and 3-by-Np for a 3-D model if a function specifies the nonconstant magnetization or surface current density on the boundary.

When you solve a harmonic problem, the output returned by the function handle must be of the following size. Here, Np = numel(location.x) is the number of points.

• 1-by-Np if a function specifies the nonconstant relative permittivity, relative permeability, and conductivity.

• 2-by-Np for a 2-D problem and 3-by-Np for a 3-D problem if a function specifies the nonconstant electric or magnetic field.

• 2-by-Np or Np-by-2 for a 2-D problem and 3-by-Np or Np-by-3 for a 3-D problem if a function specifies the nonconstant current density and the field type is electric.

• 1-by-Np or Np-by-1 for a 2-D problem and 3-by-Np or Np-by-3 for a 3-D problem if a function specifies the nonconstant current density and the field type is magnetic.

If relative permittivity, relative permeability, or conductivity for a harmonic analysis depends on the frequency, ensure that your function returns a matrix of NaN values of the correct size when state.frequency is NaN. Solvers check whether a problem is nonlinear by passing NaN state values and looking for returned NaN values.

Additional Arguments in Functions for Nonconstant Electromagnetic Parameters

To use additional arguments in your function, wrap your function (that takes additional arguments) with an anonymous function that takes only the location and state arguments. For example:

emagVal = @(location,state) myfunWithAdditionalArgs(location,arg1,arg2,...)
electromagneticBC(model,"Edge",3,"Voltage",emagVal)

Version History

Introduced in R2021a

R2025a: To be removed

electromagneticProperties will be removed. Use materialProperties instead.

For example, you can specify the relative permittivity as follows.

model = femodel(AnalysisType="electrostatic", ...
                Geometry="PlateHoleSolid.stl");
model.MaterialProperties = ...
  materialProperties(RelativePermittivity=2.25);

The unified finite element model workflow defines the type of a problem and all of its parameters as the properties of an femodel object. This object enables you to specify physical parameters for structural, thermal, and electromagnetic types of analyses. The solver in the unified workflow uses only the parameters (properties) appropriate for the current analysis type while ignoring all other properties. If you switch the analysis type by setting the AnalysisType property of the model, the solver uses the appropriate set of properties corresponding to the new analysis type.

For more help migrating your existing code that uses ElectromagneticModel to the unified finite element workflow, see Migration from Domain-Specific to Unified Workflow.

R2023a: Nonlinear magnetostatics

Relative permeability can depend on the magnetic flux density, magnetic potential, and its gradients.

R2022a: Material properties for harmonic analysis

Material properties now include conductivity. For harmonic analysis, relative permittivity, relative permeability, and conductivity can depend on frequency. Also for harmonic analysis, relative permittivity and permeability can be a complex value.