Latest Posts
Finding a Structure’s Best Design with Topology Optimization
Think about the first architects who designed a bridge above water. The design process likely included several trials and subsequent failures before they could safely allow people to cross the river. COMSOL Multiphysics and the Optimization Module would have helped make this process much simpler, if they had computers at the time, of course. Before we start to discuss building and optimizing bridges, let’s first identify the best design for a simple beam with the help of topology optimization.
7 Ways to Use the Application Builder and COMSOL Server™
Create apps for colleagues and customers, enhance your model, and set aside a simulation project for later use: Get details on these and 4 other ways you can use the Application Builder.
Nestlé Sweetens the Candy Production Process with Simulation
Question: How does a well-known candy company ensure that each of their signature chocolate bars has the same consistency, texture, and taste? Answer: Fluid flow simulation!
Evolving into a Better Design: Humans and Technology as One
Read about how the concept of constructal law applies to the joint evolution of humans and technology in this blog post about a keynote talk from the Conference of the Academia Europaea 2015.
What Is Geometric Nonlinearity?
If you perform structural mechanics analyses, then you have most likely encountered the concept of geometric nonlinearity. But what exactly does geometric nonlinearity mean?
Multistudy Structural Optimization of a Bracket
Weight reduction is a key focus in the automotive industry, where lightweight materials equal more fuel-efficient cars. Here, we perform a multistudy structural optimization of 1 component.
Simulating Viscous Heating in a Fluid Damper
Fluid dampers are able to dissipate mechanical energy into heat through a process called viscous heating. You can simulate this process to optimize your fluid damper designs.
How to Improve Your Paddle Stroke with Simulation
To take a closer look at a paddle stroke, for activities like canoeing and dragon boat racing, we set up a 2D model in COMSOL Multiphysics® and visualize the flow pattern around the paddle blade.
Deformed Mesh Interfaces: Rotations and Linear Translations
Using the finite element method often involves modeling solid objects that are rotating and translating within other domains. See how to use the deformed mesh interfaces to model these movements.
Model Translational Motion with the Deformed Mesh Interfaces
2 interfaces for manually defining the deformation of finite element mesh: Deformed Geometry and Moving Mesh. Learn when and how to use each in this blog post…
Improving Your Meshing with Swept Meshes
Get a demonstration of using swept meshing to generate efficient and accurate finite element meshes for some common modeling cases, such as calculating the fluid flow through a network of pipes.
How to Organize Your Simulation App Using Subforms
It is important that simulation apps are as organized as possible for ease of use. Learn how to create organized apps in COMSOL Multiphysics® by using subforms and form collections.
Focusing on an Electrowetting Lens
Simulation can be used to test different viscosity values and analyze the physics of electrowetting lenses, such as those used to change the view angle of cameras.
The Physics of Tennis Racket Sweet Spots
Whether you’re a tennis pro or new to the courts, you might enjoy this blog post examining the physics behind the “sweet spots” of a tennis racket.
Creating Ultrafast Polymerase Chain Reaction Tests with LEDs
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, used simulation to develop an LED-based polymerase chain reaction system that shows potential for point-of-care testing. Get the full story.
How to Implement a Point Source with the Weak Form
Learn how to implement a point source with the weak form in the COMSOL® software. Part 2 of a blog series discussing the weak formulation.
Studying Salt Damage to the World’s Crumbling Buildings
We sometimes hear of tourists getting into trouble for carving their initials into the walls of the Coliseum in Rome and other famous structures. However, the more serious damage to this architecture is caused by something else entirely — salt. Transported by wind and water droplets, and even found in some building materials, salt is a powerful mineral that can cause a building’s façade to crumble and break. Researchers studied this effect to better predict salt’s behavior and prevent damage.
Analyzing Mutual Inductance in Different Coil Arrangements
Mutual inductance measures the amount of change required for a current flowing through one circuit to create a current in a nearby circuit. Simulation can be used to compute mutual inductance.
How to Build an App from a COMSOL Multiphysics® Model
Get a brief intro to building a simulation app from a COMSOL Multiphysics® model using the Application Builder. Includes a 10-minute step-by-step tutorial video.
Simulating a MEMS-Based Pressure Sensor Inspired by a Cave Fish
Oceanic inspiration: Researchers from the PSG College of Technology in India used numerical simulation to investigate a pressure sensor design inspired by the blind Mexican cave fish.
App: Measuring the Diffraction Efficiency of a Wire Grating
We go over the features of the Plasmonic Wire Grating Analyzer demo app, which you can use as inspiration to build your own apps for more efficient wave optics and photonics simulation.
Happy Birthday, Erwin Schrödinger
We discuss the life and work of the legendary physicist behind Schrödinger’s cat, the Schrödinger equation, and more: Erwin Schrödinger.
Using General Extrusion Operators to Model Periodic Structures
If your multiphysics model includes a periodic solution to one physics and nonperiodic solutions to other physics of interest, you can exploit the periodicity to reduce computational requirements!
NREL Enhances Biofuel Conversion Processes with Simulation
In an attempt to make biofuel conversion more efficient and cost effective, researchers at NREL used simulation to study and optimize such processes. Get the full story >>