About Components

Components are the top-level building blocks of an experiment.

See Also
Creating a New Component from an External FMU File
Creating a Component from a 3DEXPERIENCE Logical Reference

A component is a subsystem isolated by a functional partitioning of a system that has the following characteristics:

  • Conforms to and provides the physical realization of a set of interfaces
  • Generally permits multiple complementary abstractions representing different behaviors of the same subsystem

Components provide ports that describe their required input from and output to other components.

You create instances of your 0D and 3D simulations in the form of components, in one of two ways:

  • Drag and drop an FMU file from your Windows desktop.

  • Select a Logical Reference object in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform database. You can view these database objects as content in the 3DSpace app.

Experiment components can come from two sources:

  • 0D functional models are encapsulated in co-simulation format Functional Mockup Units conforming to the FMI standard. These simulations are termed high abstraction, meaning that they use simplified mathematical models of physical phenomena to produce acceptable results while using less expensive computer hardware. Within the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, Modelica language models can be exported in FMU form from either the Dymola Behavior Modeling app or the Results Analytics app.
  • 3D simulation models include 3DEXPERIENCE platform simulation objects produced by the physics scenario apps. These simulations are termed high fidelity, meaning that they produce highly accurate results but use more expensive computing power and resources. The abstractions defined in these physics simulations are available to you within the Multiscale Experiment Creation app—interface regions and sensor and actuator definitions are available as component interfaces that you can connect to other experiment components.