The different levels of magneto-mechanical coupling in energy conversion machines and devices

This paper reviews the methods for coupling the magnetic and mechanical problems in magnetic materials and their application to electrical machines. The reviewed methods include both the material models and the computing methods as well as the methods for computing the magnetic forces. The paper shows that there are different levels of coupling the magnetic system with the mechanical one and that the use of a method or another depends on the application and the level of accuracy aimed at. The paper also clarifies some terms and concepts related to the coupling terminology such as strong, weak, local, global, direct and indirect coupling and put these terms in a coherent context. Most of the examples are related to the two dimensional analysis but some three dimensional ones are also shown.