Version 5.1 Highlights

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Version 5.1 Highlights• General

– 20 demo apps– Open all models and applications with any license– Model and Application files and libraries have merged– New part library for parametric models– Visualize fields outside of meshed domains– Send emails with attached reports– COMSOL Server™ can run applications on multiple computers

• Add-on Products– Structural hygroscopic swelling– Nonlinear materials for membranes and truss– Optical materials library– Coils with varying cross-section– Turbulent flow combined with porous media

Core News

COMSOL Desktop™• Open all models and applications with any license

– Browse models and applications without add-on license– You can remove model features that you don't have a

licenses for

• Application Builder– Tighter integration between Model Builder and

Application Builder– Many improvements and new features, including email

with attached reports– MPH-file format now includes application user interface

and methods– Model Libraries and Application Libraries have merged

Studies and Modeling Tools• Operators for Maximum and Minimum Over Time

– New operators timemax and timemin for computing the maximum or minimum of an expression over a range of time steps

• Operator for Accessing any Solution– New operator withsol for accessing any solution in the model both

during solution and in results– Useful, for example, for combining eigenfrequency studies with other

types of studies such as Stationary or Time Dependent

• New Interpolation Function Tools– Two new settings for interpolation functions: Define primitive function

and Define random function– Define primitive function defines the primitive function (integral) of the

interpolation function– Define random function defines a random function which samples from a

probability distribution specified by the interpolation function

Results & Visualization• Evaluating and Visualizing Outside the Mesh

– Evaluate and visualize spatially varying expressions and fields outside the mesh

– On a user-defined parameterized surface or curve or regular grid– Examples: electromagnetic or acoustics wave far fields

• Visualizing Unit Cells as Arrays– New data set for creating arrays of unit cells– For plotting periodic solutions in acoustics, structural mechanics, and

electromagnetics• Typically for models that use Floquet periodic boundary conditions

Results & Visualization• Point Trajectories Plot

– Trajectory of geometric points or cut-points– Is used in several tutorials in the Multibody Dynamics

Module

• Progress and Cancel for Visualizations and Results– Progress and cancel are now supported for

visualizations and postprocessing operations such as integration

• Time Integral and Time Average Data Set– These new data sets makes it easier to compute

integrals and averages over time

RF Module• Surface roughness on lossy conductive surfaces

– For Transition Boundary condition and Impedance Boundary condition

– Roughness models:• Sawtooth• Snowball

• Voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) postprocessing– Many commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) antennas or one port

devices are characterized by the VSWR– VSWR is now available for excited ports– Example: Biconical Antenna for EMI/EMC Testing

RF Module• Demo App: Corrugated Horn Antenna

– Corrugated circular aperture (conical) horn antennas are used as feed horns for dish reflector antennas due to their low side lobe and cross-polarization level

– The excited TE mode from a circular waveguide passes along the corrugated inner surface of a circular horn antenna, where a TM mode is also generated.

– When combined, these two modes give lower cross polarization at the antenna aperture.

– The antenna radiation characteristics and aperture cross-polarization ratio can be improved by modifying the geometry of the antenna

RF Module and Wave Optics Module• Wavelength Domain Study (Wave Optics Module)

– Sweep over vacuum wavelength instead of frequency

• Postprocessing of Wave Vector– For periodic port and diffraction order port– Wave vectors for the incident wave and the various diffraction orders including

the reflected wave– Used in arrow plots for visualization of the various diffraction orders from

gratings and other periodic structures

RF Module and Wave Optics Module• Scattering boundary condition in 2D axisymmetry for incident

and scattered plane waves– Absorb and excite waves propagating along the axis of symmetry– For coaxial waveguides and propagating Gaussian beams in free

space

• Loss tangent, loss angle, and Loss tangent, dissipation factor– New constitutive relation to the frequency domain interface

• Surface current density on Transition Boundary condition– One-sided surface current source– For EMI/EMC applications– Current flowing along one side of a thin conductive sheet

RF Module and Wave Optics Module• Hexagonal periodic structures

– Hexagonal periodic structures using periodic ports

• Field Continuity for Beam Envelopes– Handles jump in phase – Typical application: ring resonators

RF Module and Wave Optics Module• Demo App: Plasmonic Wire Grating

– Computes diffraction efficiencies for the transmitted and reflected waves (m = 0) and the first and second diffraction orders (m = ±1 and ±2) as functions of the angle of incidence for a wire grating on a dielectric substrate

– The incident angle of a plane wave is swept from normal incidence to grazing incidence

– Visualization of the electric field norm plot for multiple grating periods for a selected angle of incidence

Wave Optics Module and Ray Optics Module

• New Optical Materials Database– More than 1000 materials– Dispersion of the real and the imaginary parts

of the refractive index– Glasses used for lenses, semiconductor

materials, and more

Ray Optics Module• Part Library for the Ray Optics Module

– Parametric geometry parts– Spherical and cylindrical lens– Cemented doublets, beam splitter,

paraboloidal reflectors, prisms, and corner cube retroreflector

• Polarization Ellipses

Ray Optics Module• Ray Heating Multiphysics Interface

– Rays heating up absorbing media

• Bidirectional Ray-Thermal Coupling– Ray heating study with two-way coupling between ray

tracing and temperature

• Intensity in Graded Media– State-of-the-art feature for ray optics

• New Options for Thin Dielectric Films– Single-layer dielectric film and anti-reflective coatings– Layers can be periodic

• Quickly define complex multilayer films with hundreds of layers

Semiconductor Module• Indirect Optical Transitions

– Optical absorption in silicon and other indirect band-gap materials

– Photogeneration rate in silicon can be calculated automatically

– For silicon photovoltaic devices– Can be coupled with the Electromagnetic Waves,

Frequency Domain or Electromagnetic Waves, Beam Envelopes interfaces (requires the Wave Optics Module)

• Demo App: Wavelength Tunable LED– Emission properties of a GaN based light emitting diode

(LED) device– Emission spectrum is calculated and RGB value for the

LED is shown

Application Builder

Application Builder• Improved integration between Model and Application Builder

– Form Editor, Method Editor and Application Builder desktop windows have been merged

– The .mph and .mphapp file formats have been merged into .mph– Switch from Model Builder to Application Builder in one click

Application Builder• Improved file handling

– File import by browsing in model tree without file declarations– Embed files into running applications

• Grid mode improvements– Multi-select, copy-paste, duplicate, and move entire rows or columns– Traverse and select cells with the arrow keys– Extract parts of the grid into a new subform– Inherit column settings from other forms– Quickly change the number of rows or columns in the grid with the click of a

button

• LiveLink™ for Excel® in applications– Read and write Excel® files in applications

Application Builder• Copy forms and form objects between two different COMSOL Multiphysics

sessions• Set background images, change text alignment, modify multiple form objects

at the same time, use custom table toolbars, add tooltips to more form objects, and much more

• Send e-mail from applications– Set email server settings in preferences– Access through methods

• Improved progress support– Display progress from the model together with your own custom progress

• New built-in functions to use in methods– Several new built-in methods, including support for enabling and disabling menu

items and toolbars, and inserting, removing and appending and elements from arrays• Method style and navigation improvements

– Method editor now supports code folding, more syntax highlighting, and new keyboard shortcuts for navigating to method declarations

Browse Models and Applications without Add-on Licenses

• Open models and applications with unavailable licenses– License error in the model tree show

features without a license– Browse through an application, and even

remove features you don't have a licenses for

– You can inspect the application and perform postprocessing that only requires a COMSOL Multiphysics license

– It is not possible to solve the model

Search Model and Application• Search the application for

occurrences of a given string, or use a regular expression

• This can be used to locate where a given variable or parameter is used, for example, or to replace such occurrences when renaming variables

Tables• Sort tables by clicking column header

– Parameter, variable, and app tables– Custom toolbars to table object in form editor

COMSOL Server

COMSOL Server• Run servers on multiple computers

– COMSOL Server can now be set up to run applications on multiple computers

• Save applications on server from running applications– Running applications can be saved directly on the server– Return to the application in the same state you left it in, without

having to download it first

• Grid, Detailed, and List View in the Application Library

Thank you!