Dynamic simulation of a deposition process

A new solution for the computation of a current distribution with a moving boundary is presented. The numerical scheme is based on the capabilities of two commercial codes FEMLAB 2.3 and MATLAB 6.1. First a computation is carried out with FEMLAB which provides the electrical potential distribution at the initial time. The FEM problem and its initial solution are then saved as a MATLAB program. The MATLAB code containing the whole - draw, mesh, solve, plot - sequence is then modified to automate the iterative process. A movie is finally made from the successive solutions stored as JPEG pictures. A metal deposition process is presented as a simple test but difficult benchmark. This method is validated and can be easily extended to much more complex coupled electrochemical processes.