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Program
The COMSOL Conference 2024 Florence will feature minicourses, sponsored workshops, keynote presentations, poster presentations, exhibitions, and more. Explore the full schedule below.- Invited Talks
- Meshing and Mesh Import
The meshing step in the modeling and simulation process directly influences the accuracy, computation time, memory requirements, and solution interpretation of a simulation. COMSOL Multiphysics®offers fully automated meshing that accounts for both geometric information, such as surface curvature, and settings for the modeled physics phenomenon. For example, the software can automatically adapt the mesh size to resolve wave propagation problems or use boundary layer meshing for walls in CFD.
The automatic meshing functionality is complemented with powerful yet user-friendly meshing functionality for manipulating a mesh generation sequence to create a mesh of your choice. For instance, you can create a hexahedral mesh for one subdomain and tetrahedral or prismatic meshes for other subdomains.
Attend this minicourse to learn a set of best practices for custom meshing and mesh import. We will demonstrate the workflow for custom meshing as well as how to use, repair, and modify imported meshes generated with other software. Import of STL, PLY, and 3MF files will be covered.
- Using the Model Manager
The Model Manager, an integrated component of COMSOL Multiphysics®, is used for efficient database storage and version control of models and related files, such as reports, experimental data, geometry parts, and CAD files. It provides organization and advanced search functionality, including the ability to search for features within a model, and a comparison feature that displays the exact differences between two versions of a model. Model files are stored in the system efficiently and with minimal redundancy. In addition to getting access to your model versions through the COMSOL Desktop®, the Model Manager server includes a web interface for managing modeling and simulation projects, including user account administration and asset management.
Join us in this minicourse to learn how the Model Manager can be used to search models and apps and how to reuse model sequences in one model by applying them to a new model. We will also show how you can create a development environment where a team can collaborate on projects involving the development of models and simulation apps.
- Low-Frequency Electromagnetics
The shift toward the electrification of vehicles and the expansion of the electrical grid for renewable energy integration highlights the growing need for advanced power electronics and upgraded high-voltage systems. COMSOL Multiphysics®and the AC/DC Module offer general-purpose electromagnetics functionality for simulating essential components like transformers, converters, amplifiers, switches, cables, and high-voltage transmission lines.
The software features unique multiphysics modeling capabilities that make it easy to include Joule heating, thermal expansion, cooling by fluid flow, and other important physical effects beyond those included in a traditional electromagnetics analysis.
Join this session to get an introduction to using the AC/DC Module for electromagnetic field and multiphysics modeling of power electronics and high-voltage components.
- Invited Talks
- Introduction: Modeling in COMSOL Multiphysics®
The Model Builder in the COMSOL Desktop®environment includes functionality for all of the steps needed for modeling and simulation — from defining parameters, materials, geometry, physics settings, and mesh to the evaluation and visualization of results. The desktop environment also features the Application Builder for creating simulation apps and the Model Manager for storing and organizing models, apps, and simulations.
In this session, we focus on the Model Builder and how to set up multiphysics models from scratch. We will set up a model of a thermal actuator that combines electric currents, Joule heating, and thermal expansion using multiphysics couplings in the user interface. Once the main modeling workflow has been demonstrated, we will discuss each of the main steps in more detail, revealing useful tools and unique modeling features in the software. Examples of such features are variables and functions, built-in unit consistency, selections, exclusive and contributing nodes, study sequences, and many more.
Join us in this session to learn about the fundamental workflow of the Model Builder and gain insights into the tools in the Model Builder for adhering to best practices in modeling and simulation.
- Heat Transfer
The user-friendliness and versatility of the Heat Transfer Module have made it a popular modeling and simulation product for thermal analysis. Scientists and engineers typically use this add-on to COMSOL Multiphysics®to model heat transfer in solids and fluids, including conjugate heat transfer and radiation. Its capabilities for modeling fluid flow are extensive, with a wide range of Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) turbulence models for nonisothermal flow. Surface-to-surface radiation and radiation in participating media can be modeled using several easy-to-use modeling interfaces. The module also provides specialized features for modeling phase change, including evaporation, condensation, and sublimation, as well as the latent heat of phase change.
In addition to dedicated functionality for modeling heat transfer, COMSOL Multiphysics®and the Heat Transfer Module offer a unique set of multiphysics modeling capabilities for coupling heat transfer with other phenomena. Using ready-made multiphysics interfaces, phenomena such as Joule heating with thermal expansion, conjugate heat transfer with fluid–structure interaction, moisture transport, heat and moisture (HAM), and nonisothermal reacting flow can be described.
In this session, you will get an overview of the heat transfer modeling capabilities in COMSOL Multiphysics®and the Heat Transfer Module. You will also learn how to set up a model of a heat sink for electronic cooling using a physics interface designed to model conjugate heat transfer.
- Invited Talks
- Importing, Defeaturing, and Repairing CAD Files
CAD models are usually created by design teams for manufacturing purposes. In many cases, these models contain imperfections and excessive details that have to be repaired or eliminated in order for the models to be suitable for analysis in simulation software. Additionally, multiphysics modeling often requires also representing the volume surrounding an imported object.
COMSOL Multiphysics®features robust yet user-friendly functionality for further manipulations of CAD models for simulations involving, for example, electromagnetics, acoustics, or computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The software offers an extensive array of tools for importing, repairing, defeaturing, and adjusting CAD models. It can also facilitate additional geometric operations on imported CAD files.
We invite you to join this session to explore the geometry repair and defeaturing capabilities in COMSOL Multiphysics®and learn how to prepare a geometry for effective modeling and simulation.
- Electric Motors
Designing electric motors with high efficiency and power density is crucial for increasing range and reducing battery capacity requirements. The COMSOL Multiphysics®software and its add-on AC/DC Module can be used to model and simulate electric motors for enhanced designs.
For example, synchronous permanent magnet and asynchronous motors — as well as more recently researched alternatives such as synchronous reluctance or axial flux motors — can be modeled and simulated in COMSOL Multiphysics®. The software's capability to effectively capture multiphysics effects and apply powerful optimization techniques has empowered designers to improve efficiency and decrease costs, making it indispensable to many R&D departments in the automotive industry.
In this session, we will discuss the functionality of COMSOL Multiphysics®and the AC/DC Module and demonstrate how they can be used in the R&D of electric motors and drivetrains.
- Best Practices in Solvers
The COMSOL Multiphysics®software provides functionality with built-in multiphysics couplings that accurately describe real-world phenomena, while also enabling users to effectively create their own multiphysics couplings. In addition, COMSOL Multiphysics®offers dedicated add-on products for single-physics fields as well, such as structural mechanics, low- and high-frequency electromagnetics, acoustics, fluid flow, heat transfer, and chemical engineering.
To help couple phenomena and solve multiphysics models, COMSOL Multiphysics®can be used with the leading numerical methods and solvers. These include different variations of Newton’s methods for nonlinear problems; a comprehensive set of time-dependent solvers, as well as several optimization solvers; and direct and iterative linear solvers. The add-on modules, such as the CFD Module and Structural Mechanics Module, apply the top default solver settings for their respective field.
In this session, we will provide an overview of the solvers in COMSOL Multiphysics®. We will also highlight important settings for solving some of the most common equations in science and engineering.
- Invited Talks
- New Functionality Demonstration
Each update of COMSOL Multiphysics®introduces enhancements for user-friendliness, modeling capabilities, and overall performance. The tradition continues with the latest version of the software. This most recent update comes loaded with innovative features aimed at boosting productivity and providing new, powerful tools for multiphysics modeling and simulation.
We invite you to join this session for a comprehensive overview of the key functionality and highlights of the new version.
- LiveLink™ for MATLAB®
LiveLink™forMATLAB®enables you to seamlessly integrate the COMSOL Multiphysics®software with MATLAB®to enhance your modeling with programming capabilities in the MATLAB®environment. The bidirectional interface enables you to load existing MPH-files into MATLAB®, work with model M-files saved from the COMSOL Desktop®, write model M-files from scratch, and call MATLAB®functions from within the COMSOL Desktop®and apps.
The COMSOL API is built in Java®and made available in MATLAB®through wrapper functions. It forms the basis of LiveLink™forMATLAB®and covers all aspects of COMSOL Multiphysics®modeling. The latest version features enhanced support for autocompletion in MATLAB®, navigating and searching model objects, plotting, and the Model Manager.
In this session, learn how to work with COMSOL®models from the MATLAB®command line and see what the latest features have to offer.
- Electrochemical Systems
The COMSOL Multiphysics®software is widely used in the modeling and simulation of electrochemical systems due to its unique capability for solving nonlinear coupled problems defined using equation-based modeling.
The software includes predefined modeling features for studying processes for corrosion and corrosion protection, electrodeposition, water electrolysis, and fuel cells, as well as functionality for describing cells with any electrolyte composition and electrode kinetics through the use of the generic modeling interfaces for Nernst–Planck equations (tertiary current distribution).
Join us in this session to learn more about the COMSOL Multiphysics®add-ons for modeling of electrochemical systems such as the Corrosion Module, Electrodeposition Module, Fuel Cell & Electrolyzer Module, and the Electrochemistry Module.
- Invited Talks
- Equation-Based Modeling
The physics features in the COMSOL Multiphysics®software are based on functionality that formulates systems of partial differential equations (PDEs). The software automatically discretizes these PDEs on the fly using numerical methods, such as finite elements, Petrov–Galerkin, discontinuous Galerkin, boundary elements, and the method of lines.
COMSOL Multiphysics®also includes built-in functionality for equation interpretation, which makes it possible to define your own expressions of the dependent and independent variables when using any physics feature and to couple multiple physics phenomena. In addition, this functionality allows you to formulate systems of PDEs from scratch, using the mathematics features. You can use these features to formulate models that go beyond the standard formulations available through the built-in physics features. The mathematics features are also useful for teaching in physics and engineering, helping students to understand equation formulations and their implications in the description of physics phenomena.
In this session, we will cover how to define systems of PDEs using the mathematics features, such as theCoefficient Form PDE,General Form PDE, andWeak Form PDE.
- Optimization
Both shape and topology optimization are powerful techniques for design improvement. Shape optimization allows for the refinement of existing designs by adjusting the position, orientation, and shape of boundaries, starting from a general outline. Topology optimization offers extreme design freedom, permitting virtually any shape within the design space, which is especially relevant with the rise of additive manufacturing methods. Using any COMSOL Multiphysics®product, both of these optimization techniques can be applied to designs involving different types of physics phenomena as well as multiphysics combinations.
Join this minicourse to get a quick introduction to using the Optimization Module for shape, topology, and general-purpose optimization.
- Jos van Schijndel, ASML
Using COMSOL Multiphysics®at ASML
In this presentation, Jos van Schijndel will focus on the use of COMSOL Multiphysics®within ASML’s computational modeling Way of Work. He will discuss where computational tools are used in the V-model of systems development at ASML and how the COMSOL®software fits into the main set of ASML computational tools. He will show applications where it is beneficial to use COMSOL Multiphysics®.
- Marco Mastrovito, IMI Process Automation
Sustain On-Demand Product Innovation and Process Development in an Operation-Oriented Environment: COMSOL Multiphysics®as an Essential Toolkit for Engineering Breakthroughs
IMI has a long history of serving the severe service control valves market for critical applications in the power and oil & gas sectors. Both industries place considerable importance on reliability while at the same time providing opportunities for technical innovation in several application areas.
This keynote talk will demonstrate how COMSOL Multiphysics®simulation software can be used to boost on-demand innovation and promptly solve customer problems. Mastrovito will begin by explaining the development of IMI’s Metamorphic Trim solution before setting out how the COMSOL Multiphysics®software supported product design and additive manufacturing to design a valve that delivers groundbreaking results for both the power and oil & gas industries. He will also provide other examples to show how — despite the short development cycle — the software helped IMI in innovating its offerings for steam attemperators, low shear valves for enhanced oil recovery, and production choke valves.
- Invited Talks
- Plasma
COMSOL Multiphysics®and the Plasma Module are widely used for the modeling and simulation of low-temperature plasmas. Researchers and engineers in materials science and semiconductor manufacturing are those who use these products to study, design, and optimize processes involving plasmas.
The Plasma Module provides a set of dedicated features and user interfaces for modeling drift diffusion, heavy species transport, and electrostatics. In addition, it features a uniquely user-friendly plasma chemistry interface for the definition of chemical equations, including electron impact reactions defined with cross-section data. In addition to its capabilities for modeling capacitively coupled plasmas (CCPs), the Plasma Module, when combined with other add-on products, can also be used to model inductively coupled plasmas (ICPs) and microwave plasmas.
Join us in this session to get an introduction to the science and methods behind the Plasma Module. In addition to providing an overview of its capabilities, we will also demonstrate how a model is set up in the Plasma Module.
- Invited Talks
- Structural Mechanics
The structural mechanics add-on products to COMSOL Multiphysics®are established tools for high-fidelity modeling and simulation in science and engineering. Among other things, these products contain a very wide range of advanced nonlinear material models and enable users to formulate their own material models using expressions and functions.
In addition, the COMSOL product suite features unique multiphysics modeling capabilities, including descriptions of phenomena such as fluid–structure interaction, poroelasticity, acoustic–structure interaction, electromagnetics–structure interaction, piezoelectricity, piezoresistivity, magnetostriction, and electrostriction.
In this session, you will get an overview of the structural mechanics functionality available throughout the COMSOL product suite. You will also learn how to set up a model for structural analysis and how to add multiphysics couplings.
- Invited Talks
- High-Frequency Electromagnetics
The RF Module, Wave Optics Module, and Ray Optics Module are add-ons to the COMSOL Multiphysics®software that can be used for modeling a variety of RF, microwave, and optics devices. For the RF Module, this includes antennas and antenna arrays, transmission lines, filters, and frequency-selective surfaces. Similarly, you can model waveguides, photonics devices, gratings, and metamaterials with the Wave Optics Module. The Ray Optics Module supports both traditional nonsequential ray optics as well as ray optics combined with additional physical phenomena.
When modeling and designing RF, microwave, and optics devices, it can be important to also consider the other physics phenomena involved. High-frequency electromagnetic devices and systems, especially those operating in harsh environments such as space or high-powered laser setups, require multiphysics modeling. This can include RF and microwave heating and phenomena relating to mechanical influence, like stress-optical effects or structural-thermal-optical performance (STOP) analysis in ray optics. By combining the modules with other add-on products, a virtually unlimited number of multiphysics effects can be included in your high-frequency analysis.
Join us for this minicourse to learn about the unique and powerful modeling capabilities of the RF Module, Wave Optics Module, and Ray Optics Module.
- Surrogate Models and Uncertainty Quantification
The COMSOL Multiphysics®software includes highly effective functionality for creating and using surrogate models through specialized study types, design of experiments methods, and surrogate model training. It provides an ideal environment for generating the physics-based training datasets used by surrogate models, which can then be used for uncertainty quantification analysis or accelerated computations.
The methods used for uncertainty quantification and surrogate models are applicable across various physics simulations such as structural, chemical, acoustics, fluid flow, and electromagnetics applications.
In this session, we will first explain the principles behind surrogate models and uncertainty quantification and then demonstrate the workflow of the software for these tasks. You will learn how to increase the computational speed of an app by using a surrogate model instead of a full-fledged finite element model. Additionally, you will learn how to perform uncertainty quantification analysis, where the use of surrogate models enables statistical calculations that would otherwise be unfeasible.
- Invited Talks
- Laminar & Turbulent Flow
The COMSOL Multiphysics®software, paired with its add-on CFD Module, enables scientists and engineers to model and simulate complex laminar and turbulent fluid flows, and analyze both single-phase and multiphase flows for a wide range of applications.
Unique multiphysics capabilities further widen the scope of the software’s applicability. In combination with fluid flow, users can model multiphysics phenomena such as conjugate heat transfer, fluid–structure interaction, rotating machinery, electrokinetic flow, and reacting flow.
In this session, we will focus on how to model the flow through a water treatment basin, with baffles creating turbulence along the winding path toward the exit pipe. We will also go over the available turbulence models and take a look at some of the cornerstones of the fluid flow analyses available in the CFD Module.
- Battery Design
Modeling and simulation can be used to better understand and optimize the design of battery systems. The COMSOL Multiphysics®software and its add-on Battery Design Module offer specialized functionality for creating detailed models of battery cells and packs.
In this session, we will focus on how to model a lithium-ion battery using the software's unique coupling capabilities to include phenomena such as electrochemistry, material transport, heat transfer, fluid flow, and structural mechanics. We will showcase how charge and discharge cycles, aging, thermal management, and other processes associated with the operation of battery systems can be set up as time-dependent models. Lastly, we will demonstrate how to create battery pack models with hundreds of batteries, each described with its individual electrochemical model, including temperature effects.
- Acoustics & Transducers
The COMSOL Multiphysics®software, together with its Acoustics Module and other add-on products, provides functionality for modeling and simulating a wide variety of acoustic phenomena. Scientists and engineers can combine these phenomena with other complex multiphysics effects such as acoustic-structure interaction, piezoelectricity, and structural-electromagnetics analyses.
The software offers a broad range of modeling capabilities, including microacoustics with thermoviscous effects; large-scale simulations like concert hall acoustics; and electroacoustic transducers, such as those found in loudspeakers. COMSOL Multiphysics®also provides an extensive array of boundary conditions suitable for both frequency-domain and time-domain simulations. Users can seamlessly combine results across different physics and numerical methods for comprehensive multiscale simulations.
In this session, we will cover the various functionalities of the Acoustics Module and its latest features. The session will also showcase how the Acoustics Module, Structural Mechanics Module, and AC/DC Module can be used to design and optimize fully coupled models for acoustics and transducers.
- Martin Refslund Nielsen, Resolvent Denmark PS
Battery App Optimizing Lifetime and Robustness for Volvo
Engineering tools enable the consistent, high-speed execution of essential engineering tasks. As part of the transition to climate neutrality, the market for electric vehicles (EVs) is rapidly expanding, creating a demand for swift battery pack development and resource-efficient, robust manufacturing processes. Therefore, the LaserBATMAN project was initiated, bringing together a strong consortium of universities and industry partners from Denmark and Sweden.
In this keynote talk, Martin Refslund will highlight the advanced multiphysics simulation models and the customized COMSOL app developed to support decision-making at Volvo for optimal and robust battery manufacturing. This app allows for the immediate evaluation of battery pack lifetime performance based on: input design parameters, such as materials, active layer thicknesses, and capacity; manufacturing process parameters and tolerances, such as laser weld quality, sheet thickness tolerances, geometry, and configuration; and expected/experienced operation history, such as temperature and current/power. The app integrates multiphysics simulations of electrochemistry and degradation at the battery cell level with state-of-the-art model reduction techniques like surrogate modeling to provide high-fidelity and high-performance simulations.
Refslund will also present a case study focusing on the optimization of busbar/battery tab welds and battery pack configurations for automotive applications.
- Roberto Magalotti, Bowers & Wilkins
Electroacoustics and FEA: A Long and Successful Relationship
In the world of electroacoustics, the most innovative companies have been using finite element analysis (FEA) since well before the advent of COMSOL Multiphysics®. The software's multiphysics approach, in particular, is well suited in engineering systems where electromagnetic, mechanical, acoustical and thermal phenomena occur simultaneously and constantly interact.
In this keynote talk, Roberto Magalotti will show how COMSOL Multiphysics®has supported the development of some of the cutting-edge electroacoustic technologies featured in Bowers & Wilkins products of the last few years. He will also explain how the feedback loop between numerical simulation and experimental evidence has driven the available tools closer and closer to virtual prototyping.
- Best Practices in Results and Visualization
Simulation results enable users to evaluate fields and variables and visualize them in ways that might be difficult to do with experiments.
The COMSOL Multiphysics®software includes unique functionality for interpreting mathematical expressions of variables, derived variables, functions, and parameters, which can be used on the fly to evaluate and visualize results. You can plot any function of the solution variables and their derivatives using surface, isosurface, slice, streamline, and many more plot types by simply typing in the mathematical expression or by selecting variables from a list. The software also provides functionality for visualizing material appearance, lighting, environment reflections, and shadows — which, combined with plots, create impressive images that can highlight important concepts of a design or process.
Join us in this session to learn how to calculate derived values, create stunning plots, and generate reports and presentations using COMSOL Multiphysics®.
- MEMS
The MEMS Module add-on to COMSOL Multiphysics®has become one of the most trusted, in-demand multiphysics modeling tools for studying and designing MEMS devices. Engineers and scientists in the MEMS field typically use the MEMS Module to model a broad range of actuation and sensing mechanisms.
The module comes loaded with modeling capabilities for structural analysis and electrostatics. In addition, the ready-made MEMS modeling interfaces offer a unique suite of features for modeling multiphysics phenomena such as electrostatics and structural mechanics, electrostriction, piezoelectricity, piezoresistivity, Joule heating with thermal expansion, thermoelasticity, magnetostriction, Lorentz forces, and fluid–structure interaction.
In this minicourse, we will discuss the benefits of using the MEMS Module for modeling MEMS devices, with a focus on accelerometers. We will also show an example of how to model an accelerometer that involves coupling electrostatics and solid mechanics.
- Chemical Reactions and Reacting Flow
The COMSOL Multiphysics®software and its add-on products offer a complete set of features for the modeling and simulation of fluid flow, species transport, and chemical reactions. The software’s unique functionality enables users to define chemical systems by entering chemical equations, which are then used to generate material and energy balances, including both transport and reactions.
Transport and reactions of chemical species can be described for dilute and concentrated solutions in both laminar and turbulent flows as well as for isothermal and nonisothermal flows. These so-called reacting flow interfaces can also be used to describe free and porous media flow, including reactions in bimodal porous media accounting for macro- and microporosity.
Join us in this session to explore the modeling capabilities of the Chemical Reaction Engineering Module and the Porous Media Flow Module. You’ll also learn how to set up models for free and porous media flow and chemical reactions in COMSOL Multiphysics®, from initial chemical equations to space-dependent models accounting for transport phenomena, fluid flow, and heat transfer.
- Nonlinear Structural Materials and Fatigue
COMSOL Multiphysics®and its structural mechanics add-on modules contain a wide range of built-in nonlinear material models as well as capabilities for creating your own material models using your own functions. They also have dedicated functionality for fatigue analysis. Together, they form a uniquely user-friendly suite for multiphysics modeling and simulation of phenomena involving structural mechanics.
Attend this minicourse to get an overview of the Nonlinear Structural Materials Module and the Fatigue Module. You will hear about the material models used to capture effects like hyperelasticity, plasticity, viscoplasticity, and creep. You will also learn about damage mechanics, customized flow rules, creep laws, and custom strain-energy-density functions for hyperelasticity. For fatigue analysis, you will see how to evaluate high-cycle-fatigue (HCF) and low-cycle-fatigue (LCF) regimes. In addition, you will learn how to use stress- and strain-based models and how to integrate functionality from other modules to help you study mutiphysics phenomena such as thermal expansion and elastoplastic fatigue.
Keynote Speakers
Roberto Magalotti graduated with a degree in physics from the University of Bologna, Italy, in 1994, with a thesis on the physical modeling of musical instruments. After a five-year stint as a designer of professional loudspeaker systems, in 2001 he joined B&C Speakers, Italy, a leading company in the design and manufacturing of professional loudspeaker drivers, where he became head of research in 2008. In 2019, he joined Bowers & Wilkins, U.K., a world-renowned high-end audio company, where he is currently principal research engineer. His interests include modeling, measurement, and simulation of the nonlinear behavior of loudspeaker drivers, optimization of magnetic assemblies, application of finite element analysis to loudspeaker design, and low-frequency room acoustics. He teaches courses on loudspeaker technology at Le Mans Université, France, and other institutions. He has been a member of the Audio Engineering Society since 1998.
Marco Mastrovito is a mechanical engineer. After serving as an assistant professor at the Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy, where he focused on topics related to gas turbines, he contributed to the industrialization of pressurized oxy-combustion technology. Since 2011, he has been working for IMI CCI, concentrating on the development of control valves and attemperators. During his journey at IMI, where he currently works as head of R&D for Europe Control Valves, he has had the opportunity to patent multiple ideas that have become successful products.
Martin Refslund Nielsen, a commercial lead and partner at Resolvent, has more than 15 years of R&D experience coupling mechanical product development, robust design, and modeling. He has worked with ideation, concept development, and detailed design, often in close collaboration with simulation experts. Martin has a strong background in green energy technologies such as solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technologies, as well as batteries, medical devices, and more. Nielsen’s results include products on the market, several patents, and being a member of the winning team of the Danish Design award in 2021. He represents the COMSOL certified engineering consultancy Resolvent P/S, located in Denmark.
