User-Driven COMSOL® Software Updates Now Available in Version 5.2a

 

Feedback from users like you helps us continuously enhance COMSOL Multiphysics® and COMSOL Server™ with the functionality you need most. When you needed to solve your models faster, wanted more visualization options, or when you hoped for a quicker way to model your application, you told us about it. And we are happy you did, because your feedback powered the release of version 5.2a.

So what's new? You will find a high-level overview of the major news in COMSOL® 5.2a on this page. If you are curious about specific products or want more details on core functionality updates, click the "Menu" button above to browse.

When you are ready to update your software, click on the Download Version 5.2a button, which will take you to the Product Download page. It is easy to download the latest version of the COMSOL® software if you have a COMSOL Access account with your license number linked to it. Simply log in and follow the onscreen product download directions.

Free Webinar: Introducing COMSOL Multiphysics® and COMSOL Server™ 5.2a

General Updates

  • A new explicit solver based on the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method for acoustics in the time domain is now available.
  • The smoothed aggregation algebraic multigrid (AMG) solver offers a memory conservative method for analyzing linear elastic problems.
  • The domain decomposition solver has been optimized for handling large problems.
  • Improved meshing with quality optimization results in better overall meshes.
  • You can now make more detailed annotations in your 1D, 2D, and 3D plots by inserting LaTeX formatting.
  • The VTK export option allows you to export your data in the popular VTK file format (*.vtu).
  • Choose from 6 new color tables when visualizing your results.
  • Autocomplete now makes it easier to pull up a list of options when entering parameters, variables, and equations, in addition to input fields and results features.

Application Builder and COMSOL Server™

  • Custom COMSOL Server™ themes allow you to use your organization's branding on the login screen, Application Library, etc.
  • Reconnect to apps while they are solving via COMSOL Server™, without having to restart the simulation.
  • You can now design more dynamic apps where the user interface can be updated even if the app has been launched.
  • You now have the option to embed videos and include hyperlinks to webpages directly in your apps via the new Video and Hyperlink form objects.
  • The new Power user role in COMSOL Server™ is for anyone who needs to be able to manage certain groups and users, as determined by the Administrator.
  • New and improved example apps to inspire your own app designs.

Electrical

  • The new magnetic vector hysteresis material model enables you to more realistically model devices such as transformer cores and other ferromagnetic devices.
  • Model magnetic shielding more realistically thanks to added support for magnetic saturation modeling in shells.
  • Use two-port network systems in RF and microwave analysis.
  • The updated method for fast-frequency sweeps is great for running sweeps with many different frequencies.
  • Nonlinear frequency mixing simulations are now simplified by the Polarization domain feature.
  • New ray tracing capability for tracing rays through a lens system and beyond the meshed domains.
  • The new Optical Aberration plot type measures monochromatic aberrations and evaluates and plots them using Zernike polynomials.

Structural Mechanics

  • The new feature for adhesion and decohesion lets you model objects that stick together or are pulled apart.
  • You can now take advantage of thermal expansion data represented on various forms as well as the effects of heat on constraint features.
  • The new Magnetostriction interface allows you to model the magnetostrictive properties of linear and nonlinear sensors, actuators, and transducers.
  • The new Serendipity element type make models solve faster and use less memory.
  • New material models for plasticity include 4 new isotropic and 2 new kinematic hardening models.
  • You can now model mixed isotropic and kinematic hardening for plasticity.
  • Large-strain viscoelasticity is now possible and is available as an extension of hyperelastic models.
  • Gears are now available, including 5 gear types and 4 gear connections for automotive and other power transmission applications.
  • The Dang-Van model has been added for modeling subsurface fatigue with spalling.

Heat Transfer

  • There is a new meteorological database for taking ambient conditions into account in your heat transfer analyses.
  • The new multiphysics interface for heat and moisture transport can be used for modeling drying and condensation affecting building components.
  • You can now simplify and speed up your simulations by utilizing symmetry in your surface-to-surface radiation models.
  • Updates to heat transfer in thin structures allow you to model heat transfer in thin films and thin fractures.

Acoustics

  • A new explicit method for acoustics in the time domain enables you to model realistic ultrasound applications that may include background flow.
  • The Absorbing Layers feature can be used to simulate time-dependent acoustic waves that travel toward infinity without reflecting.
  • Directivity plots have been added for analyzing loudspeakers and other electroacoustic transducers.
  • You no longer need a geometric domain or mesh for acoustic rays to travel through thanks to the meshless ray acoustics capabilities of the Ray Acoustics interface.

Fluid

  • Apply the effects of gravity and buoyancy to your model easily by clicking a check box.
  • You can define swirl flow as the inlet flow direction for the Fan feature.
  • The Poroelasticity interface is now a multiphysics coupling node, linking the Solid Mechanics and Darcy's Law interfaces.
  • A new Flownet plot type for subsurface flow combines streamlines and contours into one plot.
  • Turbulent dispersion for particles, used when applying the drag force, includes new options.

Chemical

  • The Reacting Flow interface is now a multiphysics coupling node, linking the Laminar Flow and Transport of Concentrated Species interfaces.
  • You can now model surface species reactions inside pellets when using the Reactive Pellet Bed feature.
  • The External Short boundary condition lets you model short-circuit scenarios for battery simulations.
  • Modeling various kinds of batteries is made easier with a new Single Particle Battery interface.

Multipurpose and Interfacing

  • In a new example app for LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS®, you can interface with SOLIDWORKS® directly from the app to modify the geometry of a bike frame to analyze different configurations.
  • The CAD file import and export functionality has been extended to support new versions for multiple file formats.
  • You can now transfer your material selections in AutoCAD® directly into COMSOL Multiphysics® automatically using LiveLink™ for AutoCAD®.
  • When using any of the LiveLink™ interfaces, the Settings window shows the file name and state of the CAD program file for better clarification of the linked model.
  • Several wrapper functions updated for LiveLink™ for MATLAB®: mphplot, mphevaluate, mphglobalmatrix, mphstate and mphmatrix, mphnavigator, and mphshowerrors.