Seminar on

COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS

Presented By- Manish Kumar ShawDepartment of Mechanical Engineering National Institute of Technology Durgapur

COMSOL Multiphysics is a finite element analysis, solver

and simulation software / FEA software package for various physics and engineering applications, especially coupled phenomena, or Multiphysics. The package is cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux).

Inaddition to conventional physics-based user interfaces, COMSOL Multiphysics also allows entering coupled systemsof partial differential equations (PDEs). The PDEs can be entered directly or using the so-

calledweak form. Since version 5.0 (2014), COMSOL Multiphysics is alsoused for creating physics-based apps. These apps canbe run with a regular COMSOL Multiphysics licensebut also with a COMSOL Server license. An early version (before 2005) of COMSOL Multiphysics was calledFEMLAB

COMSOL was started in 1986 by Svante Littmarck And Farhad Saeidi (graduate students of Germund Dahlquist)based on code developed for a graduate course at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden. The main product is COMSOL Desktop which is an integrated user interface environment designed for cross disciplinary product development with a unified workflow for electrical, mechanical, fluid, and chemical applications. The add-on modules blend into COMSOL Desktop, andthe way of operation of the software remains thesame no matter which add-on products are engaged.

COMSOL Multiphysics also provides application programming interfaces (APIs).

Live Link for MATLAB provides the ability to work with COMSOL Multiphysics in combination with MATLAB. The Physics Builder, which is included in COMSOL

Desktop, makes it possible to create custom made physics interfaces accessible from the COMSOL Desktop with the same look-and-feel as the built-in physics interfaces. In the case of the Physics Builder, no programming isneeded as it works in the COMSOL Desktop from thePhysics Builder Tree. The newer Application Builder has largely replaced the Physics Builder as a tool for creating customuser interfaces for specific needs.

COMSOL Server is the software and engine for runningsimulation apps and the platform for controlling theirdeployment and distribution. The apps can be run in COMSOL Server through webbrowsers or a Windows installed client. COMSOL Server was released with version 5.0.1 inDecember 2014. The COMSOL Server license is world-wide and allows forthird-party access to simulation apps. A COMSOL Server installation also be used to presentsimulation apps to users who rent time for access. The latest version released is COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS

5.2a

Several add-on products are available for COMSOLMultiphysics.These have been categorized accordingto the applications areas, namely Electrical, Mechanical,Fluid, Chemical, Multipurpose, and Interfacing. Also these add-ons are of two types: one with COMSOL Multiphysics, and one with COMSOL Server.

Different Modules

Modules

MODULES

Particle Tracing Module

Optimization Module

Nonlinear Structure

Materials Module

Multibody Dynamics

ModulePipe Flow Module

Plasma Module

Ray optics Module

Modules

LIVELINKS

Livelink for MATLAB

Livelink for AutoCad

Livelink for Excel

Livelink for INVENTOR Livelink for

PTC Creo Parametric

Livelink for PTC

ProEngineer

Livelink for Solid Edge

Livelink for SOLIDWORK

S

3D Printing Today: Advantages and LimitationsWith the release of COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3b in 2013, it is now possible to export geometries, meshes, and surface plots in the STL format for printing in 3D. This means one can conceive, design, optimize, and prototype a product using only COMSOL Multiphysics (and/or one of the LiveLink™ products) and a 3D printer. The quality and speed at which objects can be printed depends, of course, on the printer.Low-end printers take several hours to print objects the size of a baseball, while high-end printers can maybe print two per hour. This is rather slow for mass-scale manufacturing, but quite alright for prototyping. There is no need to outsource the creation of parts to a machine shop. Printer resolution is currently around 150-200µm in the vertical direction but some high-end machines can print much finer resolutions. Although this sounds impressive, it is still not accurate enough for printing microfluidic devices whose intricate flow channels require an even finer resolution. Models analysed in COMSOL Multiphysics typically consist of multiple materials, often some combination of metals and plastics. This places a lot of restrictions on exactly what type of devices can be printed from a practical stand-point. Metal 3D printers are starting to become available, but printing combinations of metals and plastics remains a significant challenge.

Looking into the Future of Additive Manufacturing and COMSOL Multiphysics

Windows 8.1 and above version has native for supporting 3D printing, which allow for 3D printing without having to first export the geometry and then import it into software that comes with the printer. The list of available printing materials also keeps growing, and printers continually become faster, more accurate, and cheaper. On the simulation side, we are constantly adding new machinery to characterize and optimize physical systems, and our software’s simulation capabilities will allow you to gain an advantage over competitors. Anyone can design and prototype something, but only true Multiphysics software will allow one to optimize and perfect the design based on the underlying physics.Considering a simple acoustic horn, for example. The performance of the horn depends very strongly on the shape of the horn surface. By changing the curvature of this surface, the directivity and impedance can be changed.

The image beside shows the optimum curvature of the horn that has been optimized so that the far-field sound pressure level is maximized for a single frequency and in a single direction. Since this could easily be printed in 3D, such a device would have superior performance over a design made with no consideration of the physics involved. 

END OF THE PRESENTATION

THANK YOU!!