Systems exist for simulating physical field quantities, such as electric and magnetic fields, flow velocity and pressure fields, temperature fields, etc., that govern the behavior of physical structures or devices. One such system is the industry leading ANSYS® HFSS™ three-dimensional (3D) electromagnetic (EM) simulation tool sold by ANSYS, Inc. of Canonsburg, Pa.
Engineers typically design individual components and then assemble these components into systems. Physical field quantities, however, act on the entire modeled region, across component boundaries. Systems are often analyzed in a modular manner—making simplifying assumptions about how a component can be excited or may excite adjacent components, then simulating the fields in each individual component, and then simulating the interactions between components. But this type of analysis does not capture all of the possible physical interactions in the system, and may therefore be limited in accuracy. Another known approach is to assemble component geometries, and apply a simulation setup to each component in the system. This method may yield more accurate results, but does not scale well with larger systems. There is therefore a need for a simulation method that bridges the gap between these two approaches—offering the ease-of-use and modularity of a simulation-ready component assembly with the accuracy of a complete 3D simulation.