Tailored modeling of miniaturized electrothermomechanical systems using thermodynamic methods

A methodology for problem-oriented modeling and numerical simulation of miniaturized electrothermomechanical systems is presented. Starting from a universal description of microsystems based on phenomenological irreversible thermodynamics, the method allows one to deduce model equations which are systematically `tailored' for each individual system component (sensor, actuator, or circuit element) by condensing the state variables in the generic model to a practicable number of degrees of freedom. Moreover, system models for entire microstructures may straightforwardly be formulated by assembling the constituent components in a physically proper and self-consistent way. Thus, by our approach a well-structured partition of the system simulation problem is obtained, suggesting the application of modern computational techniques such as domain decomposition and parallelization methods. Since all physical parameter models (equations of state, transport coefficients etc.) may be interpreted in terms of phenomenological and, hence, measurable quantities, the validation of tailored models is easily accomplished by the use of a process-oriented material-property data base.