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Transferring Stress Between Sequential Studies
Posted Feb 22, 2026, 10:54 a.m. EST Studies & Solvers, Structural Mechanics, Physics Interfaces 3 Replies
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I am performing thermal stress analysis of layered materials using Joule Heating coupled with Solid Mechanics. After completing the first time dependent study, I run a second study where I use the final time step of the first study as the initial condition for the new analysis. The temperature field is transferred correctly. However, the stress values at the initial time step of the second study do not match the final stress results from the first study.
I understand that the transferred variable is displacement field (comp.u), and I suspect this may be the reason for the discrepancy. Is there a proper way to transfer the stress field directly between studies, or is there a recommended approach to ensure consistent stress initialization, for example by transferring the strain instead?
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Your understanding is correct, and with the same temperature field and displacement field, the stresses should not change.
What material model are you using? If it is a path dependent material, like plasticity, you may need to map also inelastic strains to the next study.
-------------------Henrik Sönnerlind
COMSOL
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Using only the initial values of the solved variables as the initial values for my second study gives me the correct value for the temperature field only. However, the stress values show a large difference.
I also tried using the withsol operator to transfer the strain at the final time step: withsol('sol1', comp1.solid.eXX, setind(t,'last')), in the same way for other tensor values. But it was still not effective. I get relatively close values when I use withsol for the stress: withsol('sol1', comp1.solid.sx, setind(t,'last')). At least the order of magnitude of the stress values is the same.
Regarding your question about the material model, I did not use any path-dependent material (if I fully understand what you mean by that). However, I used an external strain value that is triggered at a specific temperature in the first study. Could that be the cause?
Thank you for your help and I appreciate your feedback.
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Yes, it is probably an issue with the external strain. The stress is essentially computed as
Here, the inelastic strains could come from a material model like plasticity, so they are not relevant in your case.
-------------------Henrik Sönnerlind
COMSOL
