COMSOL Inc. brings to the simulation community the only fully integrated environment for creating simulation apps by announcing the pre-release of COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2 at the COMSOL Conference 2015 Boston. As the leading provider of multiphysics modeling and simulation software, COMSOL delivers major productivity updates to COMSOL Multiphysics and COMSOL Server with new features, improved stability and robustness, and faster execution. Version 5.2 offers a more intuitive and improved user experience for building multiphysics models and converting them into simulation apps. Major upgrades to the Application Builder include the new Editor Tools for easy creation of user interface components, commands for dynamic updates of graphics, and more control over the deployment of simulation apps. In version 5.2 running simulation apps using the COMSOL Server™ software in a corporate network or in the cloud is now up to five times faster. Many updates, new features and demo apps are also available for the add-on products in electrical, mechanical, fluid, and chemical areas.

Clearly Communicate Designs with the Application Builder

In COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2, the Application Builder features an optimized workflow with the debut of several features and the new Editor Tools, which makes the creation of user interface components easy and quick. Simulation specialists can now use Editor Tools to bring any model parameter, physics setting, or plot into the user interface of an app with a few mouse clicks. This is one of several tools available that simulation experts can harness to create truly practical simulation apps and share the power and accuracy of COMSOL Multiphysics throughout their organization.

Among the new user-inspired features is the possibility to update graphics while running an app. The app designer can now present app users with different plots while solving, which takes them through the progression of the solution process presenting them, for example, with geometry, mesh, and solution plots. The app designer can now also customize the graphics toolbar with new buttons and include camera movements.

The Application Builder allows companies to communicate across multiple departments, knowing that the simulation expert is able to maintain control, enforce quality standards, and ensure that the results can be trusted.

COMSOL Server™Fosters Collaboration throughout Organizations

All of the new features implemented in version 5.2 of COMSOL Server™ software have been designed to facilitate collaboration between users and departments while simplifying administration tasks. “A new caching function allows applications to start up to five times faster; additionally administrators can now assign a single application to be launched as soon as users log in,” said Ed Fontes, CTO of COMSOL. “These are just few of the many new features and concepts introduced with version 5.2.”

Version 5.2 provides simulations experts with a cutting edge user experience in simulation app design and sharing by integrating highly productive model building, app design, and deployment tools to share their simulation applications with users everywhere.

The thermal properties of a finned pipe are derived from the results of a conjugate heat transfer simulation. The app user can change aspects of the design such as the arrangement of the inner grooves and outer fins.

Extensive Library of Apps Available with Version 5.2

To demonstrate the power of the Application Builder, a plethora of new apps have been added to the extensive Application Libraries showcasing the capabilities of the Application Builder. The Application Libraries include several examples ranging from membrane dialysis to water treatment, thermoelectric cooling to heat exchangers, touchscreen design to magnetic prospecting, piezoacoustic transducer to muffler design, MEMS sensor to pressure vessel.

“With version 5.2 we ship about 50 apps demonstrating the depth and power of the Application Builder and the COMSOL Server,” said Svante Littmarck, CEO of COMSOL. “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. We had a lot of fun building these apps and love the new Application Builder functionality! For example, if we take a look at the Mixer app, which ships with the Mixer Module, we are presented with a sophisticated application that can be used to simulate almost any type of mixer without requiring expertise in differential equations or CFD. This takes modeling and simulation to a whole new level!”

This simulation app is intended for the simulation of mixers equipped with axial or radial impellers. For a given geometry, the application computes the efficiency of the mixing process. The vessels, which are available in three different shapes, can also be equipped with baffles and any of eleven different types of impellers.

Hundreds of Updates to COMSOL Multiphysics®, COMSOL Server™ and Add-On Products

Version 5.2 provides several new core functionality features inspired by feedback from the vibrant COMSOL Multiphysics user community. For example, users can now add annotations to 3D and 2D plots. A new tetrahedral meshing algorithm minimizes the need for manual interactions when meshing large CAD models. Mesh Parts are introduced for integrating STL surface meshes and NASTRAN volumetric meshes into the geometry building work flow. The use of selections is expanded upon and can now be used for singling out which parts of a solution that should be used in results processing and visualizations.

Version 5.2 also introduces numerous enhancements to the existing functionalities of COMSOL Multiphysics and its add-on products. Users will benefit from more flexible license management, allowing them to work on their designs knowing that if the connection to the license manager is disrupted they have the option to save their files and resume once a connection is reestablished. Users of the Structural Mechanics Module and the AC/DC Module will benefit from the new External Materials functionality allowing materials to be algorithmically defined by shared library files written in C language. The most prominent use of this new functionality will be for nonlinear materials that include hysteresis (history dependency) and irreversibility effects.

Simulation app based on a model of a capacitive touchscreen. The user can control the position and orientation of a finger pressing the touchscreen, and then compute the capacitance matrix.

Highlights of New Features and Tools Available in Version 5.2

COMSOL Multiphysics®, Application Builder and COMSOL Server™: Streamlined workflow in the Application Builder with Editor Tools for bringing any model parameter, physics setting, or plot into the user interface of an app with a few mouse clicks. Numerous enhancements on user experience with customization of graphic toolbar buttons, plot while solving, dynamics updates of graphics, improved copy-paste between applications, and more. A more powerful COMSOL Server with applications launching up to five times faster, the ability to reconnect to running applications, and launch of single dedicated applications upon login. More robust license management with better handling of lost connection and licenses released during a session.

Geometry and Mesh:Mesh Parts are introduced making it easier to import surface and volume meshes for use in geometry building. More robust tetrahedral meshing. A new geometry operation, Partition Domains, to extend the reach of hexahedral meshing.

Modeling Tools, Studies, and Visualization:Annotations for displaying customized texts and results in 2D and 3D plots. Users can now choose to store only a selected part of the solution for postprocessing purposes. New PARDISO solver for clusters. Improved FFT studies. New residual operator that can be used to plot the residual in each point in space to get an intuitive visualization of where the error is the largest.

  • Apps: More than 50 app examples demonstrating the power of the Application Builder for electrical, mechanical, fluid, and chemical simulations.
  • Multipurpose: The Particle Tracing Module now sports a new feature to model particle-matter interactions for simulating high-energy physics and powerful particle counters for counting the number of particles in domains and on boundaries.
  • Electrical: The AC/DC Module features a new effective nonlinear constitutive relations formulation for approximating nonlinear magnetic materials in the frequency domain is now available. Shared library files can now be used to create magnetic materials that include hysteresis and irreversible effects. Smith plots are now available in the RF Module.
  • Fluid: New laminar three-phase flow multiphysics interface in the CFD Module based on the phase-field method. More turbulence support for rotating machinery and a new free surface tool for frozen rotor studies. With the Pipe Flow Module users can now model compressible flow in pipes and expansion and contractions due to sudden changes in the cross-section area of the pipes.
  • Chemical: The Chemical Reaction Engineering Module now allows catalytic particles of different particle shapes (spheres, cylinders, flakes, and user defined based on area and volume). The Corrosion Module now supports modeling of thin beam structures.

Mechanical: Shared library files can now be used to create nonlinear structural materials. Contact robustness improvements in the Structural Mechanics Module for curved surfaces and small relative displacements.The Heat Transfer Module has a symmetry plane for surface-to-surface radiation and external temperatures for thin layers. The Acoustics Module includesoctave and 1/3rd octave plots.

Visit www.comsol.com for more information.