Comsol, the multiphysics simulation software has been upgraded to version 5.2a, which includes significant performance improvements and a rotordynamics module, said Svante Littmarck, Comsol’s president and chief executive officer.
He spoke to conference goers at the twelfth annual Comsol conference held this week in Boston. Littmarck also reviewed the application builder and Comsol server capabilities introduced in earlier versions.
The application builder allows analysts to create multiphysics apps that can be used by anyone, including support staff, designers, and customers, who can make design iterations and generate reports. They don’t need access to the complete model to use the app and cannot make model changes. Rather, they use the app to solve for their own model parameters on an existing model.
Users access these apps via the Comsol server, which stores the apps and makes them accessible on laptop, desktop, smartphones, Littmarck said. The server can also store apps in the cloud.
Apps can now include custom interfaces, including a company’s logo or other branded information, such as a company’s custom colors.
Performance speeds in the most current version are often ten-times faster as compared to the Comsol version available one year ago. The speedup is most notable when working with models with several thousand domains and boundaries, he said.
Virtual operations for mesh preparation, swept meshing, and open GL meshing also happen ten times faster than last year’s version, while computer-aided design import is five times faster, Littmarck said.
“These run ten times faster on the same computers; it’s not hardware that made these operations speed up but the using of better methods,” he added.
Also, the loading and saving of .mph files—that is, Comsol files–happens between two to ten times faster than in past versions.
“Mathematical and numerical methods have improved at the same rate as Moore’s law over the years, and we focus on mathematical and numerical methods and use the same hardware to compare our versions,” Littmarck said.
“A software system like ours is very complex, with millions of lines of code and many different programs in many different languages,” he added. “We continue to run them to look for mistakes and correct them.”
One improvement example comes from with the new rotordynamics module to analyze vibrations due to centrifugal forces and other gyroscopic effects in rotating machinery.
The module helps engineers ensure that rotor vibrations are contained within acceptable design limits. They can evaluate critical speed, whirl, and bearings, said Prashant Srivastava, a Comsol technical product manager.
“Users will be able to easily postprocess their results directly within the software to present the results of their analysis as Campbell diagrams, modal orbits, harmonic orbits, waterfall plots, and whirl plots,” Srivastava said.
The new module works with other Comsol modules. For example, additional tools for modeling geared rotors are available when the rotordynamics module is combined with the multibody dynamics module, he added.
The update is available for Windows, Linux, and Macintosh operating systems and is available immediately. The application builder is supported in the Windows operating system.
