Editor's Pick: COMSOL Multiphysics and Server 5.2a

My contact at COMSOL is a master of understatement. In an e-mail about the 5.2a release of COMSOL Multiphysics and COMSOL Server simulation products he says something like 5.2a has tons of new stuff and it could've been labeled with a impressive release number, but they thought a lowercase “a” would do.

OK, well, you'll have to go and poke around the release highlights webpage linked after today’s Pick of the Week write-up to understand what “tons” mean. In a nutshell, no matter what your simulation gig involves – chemicals, electricity, fluids, optics, plasma, radio frequency and so on – this release has something for you.

The bywords for 5.2a are performance and productivity improvements. And many of the new features and enhancements are user-driven, so add highly practical to that list.

For example, simulation specialists building shareable physics apps for colleagues or clients can deploy branded apps with videos. Users of the COMSOL Heat Transfer module can now incorporate ambient weather data from a meteorological database when defining heat transfer coefficients. The Batteries & Fuel Cells module now lets you model complex 3D assemblies in battery packs using a new single particle battery interface.

The Structural Mechanics module offers a number of goodies. Two cool ones are a magnetostriction interface for modeling many sensor and actuator types and a new capability for modeling adhesion and decohesion processes. The AC/DC module now has a built-in material model for magnetic hysteresis, and the RF module debuts new lumped two-port network coupling.

Version 5.2a has three new solvers, all of which sound fast and memory efficient. First is SA-AMG (smoothed aggregation algebraic multigrid) for linear elastic and other analyses. Next is a domain decomposition solver for handling large multiphysics models. Finally, there's a new explicit solver for acoustics simulations that sounds like a game changer.

This app example comes with the Application Libraries included in COMSOL Multiphysics and COMSOL Server, It can be used for the design of a magnetic induction device used for food processing. Image courtesy of COMSOL Inc.

At the risk of understatement, version 5.2a of COMSOL Multiphysics and COMSOL Server seems like a big deal. You can begin to get an idea of what it offers from today's write-up. Hit the link at the end of main text to access a complete web-based guide to the release highlights, including an overview video. Also at the end of the main text is a registration link to live webinar introducing release 5.2a that airs two days from now. Hit today’s Pick of the Week link to get started.

Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood

Editor at Large, DE