COMSOL Multiphysics

Many of the simulations we have developed through the years include materials that behave anisotropically. This class of materials has different material properties in different directions. This anisotropy often needs to be included in computational models to achieve the desired level of accuracy in the simulation outputs. If the material coordinate system of the anisotropic

Thermal stresses are an important design concern for many engineering applications.  When temperatures change, materials can deform or warp leading to the build-up of internal stresses even without the presence of external constraints which can further increase thermal stresses.  Modeling and simulation can calculate the deformations, stresses and changing contact pressures using thermal-structural interaction techniques. 

Many engineers solve heat transfer challenges regularly. Over the last 20 years, AltaSim has developed hundreds of simulations for our clients that include heat transfer as a component. This Tip comes from our experience in solving a heat transfer problem that included thin layers of different materials. Solid elements are the most widely used type

Engineers post process their simulation results for reasons that range from better understanding their results to communicating those results to others.  Developing labels that clearly identify the conditions for a simulation communicates the critical input parameters for the plotted results. In this Tip and Trick, the simulation engineers at AltaSim will show a way to

An electromagnetic wave consists of a coupled oscillating electric field and magnetic field which are always perpendicular to each other. By convention, the “polarization” of electromagnetic waves refers to the direction of the electric field. In 3D geometry, arbitrary polarization is naturally defined by the prescribing the directions of all three components of the electric

In working with our customers, AltaSim often seeks to solve an initial problem in two dimensions to save computational time. The CAD we receive from our customers is routinely in three dimensions, and our engineers need to reduce the dimensionality of the solution space. In the past, our engineers spent significant time re-creating CAD in

The significant flexibility of COMSOL Multiphysics represents one of the primary reasons AltaSim uses this software as our main simulation tool. In this installment of our Tips & Tricks, we are going to review the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method that COMSOL has implemented. AltaSim has found that for the cases described in this article, DG

At virtually every step of the model creation process, you need to select and apply materials, physics boundary conditions, and other settings to your model geometry. Bookkeeping of these settings can be challenging, especially when you re dealing with large, complex geometries and multiple physics interfaces. In COMSOL Multiphysics, Selections provides a tool to organize your model