A Comprehensive View of Multiphysics Simulation

One of the best ways for an engineer to see a software suite’s capabilities is from other end users and case studies. Through conversation and real-world examples, it’s simple to see not only the range of applications a software package can provide, but also see how to effectively apply its specialized toolsets within the product design and simulation process.

COMSOL Conference Boston 2015, from Oct. 7 to 9, gave attendees a first-hand look at some of the software’s new features, a host of use cases and the chance to directly provide feedback on its Multiphysics platform. The company also offered plenty of traditional and on-hands learning courses with a pre-release of version 5.2, which is slated to reach the mainstream market by the end of the year.

Improving Simulation for All

In 2014, COMSOL introduced the Application Builder and Server to the simulation community with Multiphysics 5.0. It allows analysis experts to create and share simulation apps with non-experts, thus expanding the benefits of simulation throughout an enterprise. This year, the company has been working on Multiphysics 5.2 to make Application Builder and Server’s main capabilities more robust and accessible to users. The goal is to be able to provide Multiphysics “modeling and simulation to everyone,” according to Svante Littmarck, CEO of COMSOL.  

Svante Littmarck, CEO of COMSOL, discussed modeling and simulation for everyone at the company’s Boston event.

“With this release, we’ve focused on consolidating and making Application Builder and COMSOL Server mature pieces of software and wrapping up a bunch of core product developments to polish it and making things work the way we want,” said Littmarck. Version 5.2 includes “about 50 apps demonstrating the depth and power of the Application Builder and the COMSOL Server. These apps are meant to provide COMSOL users with examples that can be easily inspected, edited and used as a starting point for their own applications,” he said.

Littmarck was accompanied on-stage by Bjorn Sjodin, vice president of Product Management, to preview some of the finer features of Multiphysics 5.2. Among them is the Editor Tool, which lets users click on a tree structure and insert composite user interface components into an application quicker. For improved speed, users can also cache applications and create desktop icons as a way to launch apps easier in a Web browser or COMSOL client.

Sjodin also noted that meshing capabilities have been improved and will see more improvements in subsequent versions. “For meshing, we have a new, more robust meshing method. Many of you have seen the error message ‘failed to respect edges.’ With the new meshing method, that is [essentially] gone in version 5.2,” he said. “[Users] will see more improvements in subsequent versions as well.”

Spotlight on Industry

In addition to the main keynote from Littmarck and Sjodin, COMSOL also hosted three main speakers from various industry sectors on their individual applications of Multiphysics. Attendees saw how the Multiphysics platform helped companies run simulations for graphite, elevator fatigue and optical network switches. Each application illustrated how COMSOL’s toolsets let engineers find the optimal solution to issues that required multiple, incredibly specific parameters.

Rick Beyerle, senior research scientist of GrafTech International, started the Industry Talks by demonstrating several graphite simulation examples. With COMSOL, Beyerle stated, GrafTech was able to find the optimal designs for an induction furnace and smartphones. Because graphite is highly orthotropic, it makes it difficult to mesh without any distortion, Beyerle noted. But using Multiphysics lets Beyerle and his colleagues create isotropic corners and specialized properties to address issues with boundary conditions and meshes.

Beyerle: Electronics is one of the biggest users of flexible graphite. #COMSOLconf15 pic.twitter.com/ARJnW4s1gw

— Desktop Engineering (@DEeditor) October 8, 2015

Beyond the traditional product design application, Stuart Brown, managing partner of Veryst Engineering, discussed how COMSOL Multiphysics was used for forensic engineering. In his talk, Brown chronicled how the firm investigated wear on an elevator brake that caused the death of a student in Japan. “The question was not why did the brake fail, but when the impending failure was apparent,” he said.

Brown showcased three main models that addressed thermal stresses, solenoid force stresses and mechanical wear on the brake lines. “There were multiple physics associated with this [scenario], there was thermal, mechanical, magnetic and material behavior. COMSOL provided a unique platform for us to be able to build a model of our structures and then examine these different scenarios and physics as they were appropriate,” said Brown. As each simulation ruled out each cause presented by the prosecution, Brown said the final model made it apparent that the failure happened in a span of about 30 hours — not over a period of years.

Brown used COMSOL to sim. multiple factors & demonstrate failure didn’t happen over months, but hours #COMSOLconf15 pic.twitter.com/KzBUqufCwp

— Desktop Engineering (@DEeditor) October 8, 2015

In the research sector, Dritan Celo, senior engineer at Huawei Canada Research Center, showcased how COMSOL is used to model and characterize thermo-optic switches and carrier injection optical switch technology. His work at the center is to generate the technology to support growing network capacity and a new standard that requires high bandwidth and low power. Simulation in COMSOL helped Celo’s team produce a device that could meet both time and power requirements.

A Thorough Look at Multiphysics  

Beyond the key presentations, COMSOL Conference 2015 gave visitors the opportunity to gain knowledge in specific knowledge areas of Multiphysics. Aimed at both new and experienced users, educational sessions gave attendees hands-on experience with Application Builder, specific modules of the software and various analysis types. Focus Sessions offered best practices for acoustics simulation, heat transfer and phase change simulation, and electromagnetic simulation. User case studies were also presented for acoustics, CFD (computational fluid dynamics), optimization, microfluidics and more.

With access to hands-on training, a host of industry-specific use cases and a look at the upcoming 5.2 release, COMSOL Conference Boston 2015 gave attendees a look at how the software is improving and serving a broad range of engineering applications.

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