Analysis - General

What is Gear integration and when should I use it?

Infrequently and with caution. There are two type of integration methods available, Gear and trapezoidal. Trapezoidal is the default method and is the best choice for most circuits. However, for power circuits where inductors are being switched by diodes or other devices, Gear is sometimes the best choice. It is a lossy integration method which attenuates high frequency oscillations that, while technically correct, are of no interest to the user and tend to slow down the simulation. The one area where you should definitely avoid Gear is in LC oscillators. A pure LC tank circuit with an initial voltage on the cap will oscillate forever with trapezoidal integration, but will rapidly decay with Gear integration.