Get an Early Peek at COMSOL Multiphysics v. 6.3 

In early October, approximately 220 attendees traveled to the Boston area for the first time since 2019 for COMSOL Conference 2024, for a sneak peek of version 6.3 of the COMSOL Multiphysics physics-based modeling and simulation platform and more. Officially, the release is expected to drop within the next couple of months, according to COMSOL, Inc. President Bernt Nilsson.

“The latest version offers new updated functionality for modeling and simulation of electromechanics, pressure acoustics, CFD, and electrical discharges. It includes user-friendly geometry and mesh handling and a chatbot for assisting with Java programming of apps and models,” noted Bjorn Sjodin, senior vice president product management of COMSOL, sharing about some of the more notable highlights.

Guests at the event, including engineers, researchers, and other professionals from industry and academia, were invited to attend any of six keynote talks, 30-plus minicourses on best practices for modeling and simulation, and networking receptions during the 3-day event. Users of the software could get tough modeling questions answered at strategically placed demo stations throughout the conference setting, preview a beta version of the software, and discover how simulation software is being used in industries such as automotive, maritime, energy, aerospace, consumer electronics, and healthcare.

Update Includes Analysis Tools, New Module

Delving into specific updates, Sjodin pointed to at least one new features that will be “most important” for users: geometry preparation analysis tools, because Sjodin noted how many users are wanting to import larger industrial CAD models.

“They [the tools] usually don’t work out of the box, because they’re really meant for CAD modeling. When you use these CAD models for analysis there are a whole new set of requirements,” Sjodin said. “And now you have automatic tools for that. It’s optional but a fully automated tool is available in the new version. That’s something that we look forward to getting feedback from our users,” Sjodin says.

In this latest release is a new module: the electric discharge module. A target area for this module is high-voltage equipment and consumer electronics, such as cellphones.

As Sjodin explained, “You wander around on a carpet, and then you are statically charged. Then you touch the screen. You expect it to work, but there could be sparks flying from your finger and you could ruin the electronics on the back side,” he cautioned. This same concept applies to any kind of touchscreens, such as in cars. “That type of electric discharge is something this new module can analyze at the low power end of the spectrum.” 

On the high power end of the spectrum is the global  power grid, where new components are constantly being invented and revitalized because of renewable energy.

“This poses completely new requirements on electric power system components. When you create new components, you need to validate them and test them for being safe. When a worker comes close to them, you don’t want sparks to fly or you’d be electrocuted. This module can be used for analyzing the risk for arc discharging—violent discharging events. It’s a very complex multiphysics phenomenon but this new electric discharge module is going to help with that,” Sjodin said. 

GPU Acceleration

In other big news, Sjodin and Nilsson reported on a GPU update

“GPU processors have been  developed further and further. They’re a viable alternative to a traditional CPU. Our customers have been asking, ‘Will COMSOL introduce a technology that will allow us to use these GPUs that are now coming with certain computers for accelerating the computations?’” Sjodin said. 

The answer is now “yes.” “This is the first release where we introduce two different techniques for use in GPU acceleration. One is for training surrogate models (neural network models). These are used to introduce compiled versions of models. They’re faster to evaluate and to speed up calculations, especially for simulation apps,” explained Sjodin.

Sjodin shared how a significant part of the COMSOL business is to allow its users to create simulation apps. “Our users make these apps with specialized user interfaces to be used by their customers.

“For those apps, the surrogate models can be very efficient to accelerate the calculations,” Sjodin said. “By precompiling these solutions, using these surrogate models, you can get instantaneous results—something you can precompute. For that we now have GPU acceleration.”

A second area featuring GPU acceleration is in acoustic simulation. Say, for example, in a car cabin, you want to investigate the reverberation or echoing effects inside. GPU acceleration can make the calculations faster. 

Sjodin and Nilsson shared additional enhancements with COMSOL’s simulation apps, especially regarding batteries.“We actually have a new simulation app demonstration example in this release that shows the combination of simulation apps, battery testing simulation and these (surrogate models) and neural networks. It shows how you can build an app to simulate a battery test cycle.”

Another highlight Sjodin and Nilsson specifically mentioned is a new chatGPT functionality. “Users can connect to chatGPT to help especially with writing code for simulation apps that they build. It could be important for writing code you might want to use to automate certain tasks. It can help save time,” Sjodin says. It’s optional users can opt to install.

More Updates to Look for in COMSOL Multiphysics Version 6.3

• Interactive Java environment, enabling users to interact with models
• User experience and efficiency with use of Chatbot
• Automatic preparation of geometry for analysis
• Create surrogate models efficiently

What’s New for Simulating Acoustics

• GPU computations
• Poroacoustics in the time domain
• Thermoviscous acoustics with SLNS sequential linearized Navier-Stokes model
• Electromechanics couplings for shells
• GPU-enabled calculations reportedly are up to 25 times faster.

What’s New for Structural Analysis

• Multiphysics interfaces for electromechanics of thin structures
• Multiphysics coupling for shrinking and swelling phenomena

More Functionality

• Faster plasticity computations
• New multiphysics tool for drying electronics

What’s New for Fluid Flow Modeling

• Anisotropic turbulent flow interfaces
• More accurate high Mach number flow

New for Modeling Electromagnetics 

• Added functionality for transformers and motors

Physics interfaces

• Part library for lattice structures

To date, COMSOL Multiphysics software now offers 50 modules.

During the event, one of the keynote talks, by Distinguished Audio Systems Engineer Doug Button and Principal Acoustic Engineer Joe Jankovsky of Sonos, a Santa Barbara, CA-based audio equipment manufacturer, addressed the application of acoustic simulation to create immersive audio experiences. 

“Sometimes we like to use analysis to enable invention, to do something different,” said Jankovsky, 

“Immersive audio is basically when audio like movies in theaters and home theaters can make sounds sound like they’re coming from all around you using Dolby, Atmos and other formats to do that,” Jankovsky said. “But we want to take it a step further.”

He said the challenge, in looking for invention, was “to come up with a system that … was capable of creating spacious and immersive sound for music. It was a different beast.” The result: the ERA 300 spatial audio tabletop speaker. Button and Jankovsky shared how COMSOL helped Sonos craft the speaker through design iterations. 

“By no stretch of the imagination am I much of an FEA guru and frankly I’m not much of a scientist,” said Button, who, with numerous patents to his name, views himself as an inventor.  “Invention happens over enormous amounts of iterations. This is where COMSOL comes in for me. For me, COMSOL is a tool for creativity. If I can draw it, I can test it and I can iterate from there. Innovation is iteration.” Button explained in detail how Sonos used the loudspeaker design tools in COMSOL.

This year’s conference also featured three sponsored workshops and displayed 58 posters. Poster and paper awards were also given during the event.

The Boston event was part of seven events COMSOL had scheduled for Florence, Italy, and Shanghai, China, and other locations throughout the fall.

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