COMSOL News 2012 | Posted on
September 5th, 2012 by
Phil Kinnane
In these days of globalization, keeping the world connected is imperative. Information needs to pass as freely and quickly as possible in order to keep markets up-to-date with the latest news and to ensure that commerce can be conducted without hindrance (at least of the technical kind). So what do you do – look to the sky? The answer is no; in fact, 99% of this information is carried by undersea cables. These unsung heroes sit at the bottom of the sea. There they are buffeted by the high pressures and general movement of the surrounding water, and the rough terrain they lay upon. Even so, they provide instantaneous messaging between countries and peoples of different cultures. How do subsea cables withstand the stresses they are subjected to?
Read more on: The Stresses Subsea Cables are subjected to
COMSOL News 2012 | Posted on
July 26th, 2012 by
Phil Kinnane
Much has been written lately about increasing the energy efficiency of cars. Batteries and fuel cells are very hot topics, and not so long ago I blogged about the University of Michigan’s use of solar cells to fully power a car. Yet, even on the smallest of scales, such as the sensors in your car, improvements are being made. Utilizing a MEMS (Micro Electromechanical System) piezoelectric energy harvester, Alexander Frej and Ingo Kuehne at Siemens Corporate Technology in Munich are contributing to increasing a car’s efficiency.
Read more on: Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Helps Increase a Car’s Efficiency
COMSOL News 2012 | Posted on
July 23rd, 2012 by
Phil Kinnane
How do you simplify a 3D geometry to reduce the computational resources required to model it? Do it in 2D. What if the phenomenon can only be properly simulated in 3D? Find the planes of symmetry and reduce the size, most engineering objects are symmetric in some way. What if there is no symmetry, such as the propagation of random cracks through a steel pipe? Well, as this story from COMSOL News shows, there are other methods, such as using impedance boundary conditions to simulate non-destructive testing (NDT).
Read more on: Impedance Boundary Conditions Help in Modeling Non-Destructive Testing (NDT)
COMSOL News 2012 | Posted on
July 17th, 2012 by
Phil Kinnane
Düsensauginfiltration (DSI) is a novel technique for lowering water levels at mining and construction sites while not actually having to transport the water away from these sites. This came to my attention at the latest COMSOL Conference in Stuttgart. There, Ph.D. student Yulan Jin and Assistant Professor Dr. Ekkehard Holzbecher from the Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany was presenting their research into this groundwater lowering technique.
Read more on: Lowering Water Levels by not Taking Away the Water
COMSOL News 2012 | Posted on
July 13th, 2012 by
Phil Kinnane
Transformers were first commercially used in the late 1800’s, but they are still being investigated at their fundamental levels. One of the stories from our latest COMSOL News concerns ABB (who themselves have been around since the late 1800’s) and their research into these apparatuses.
Read more on: Investigating the Fundamentals of an “Old” Technology
COMSOL News 2012 | Posted on
July 6th, 2012 by
Phil Kinnane
I have just come back from a bit of a vacation and boy was it hot! Here, a large part of the US has been going through record high temperatures and most of my time was spent trying to keep cool. How nice then to mention a story about cooling.
Read more on: A Cooling Story for These Sweltering Days
Acoustics | Posted on
June 29th, 2012 by
Phil Kinnane
In an earlier blog post, I commented on how acoustic waves are being used in a biomedical setting, to identify malaria in small fluid samples. A more traditional use of piezoelectric devices was written about in the latest COMSOL News. Here, an Italian company, Esaote S.p.A., uses them to produce improved ultrasound imaging systems.
Read more on: Improving Ultrasound Imaging Systems by Directing Sound Waves
COMSOL News 2012 | Posted on
June 28th, 2012 by
Phil Kinnane
One of the interesting stories to come out of the latest COMSOL News concerned a couple of great researchers, Dr. Ozgur Yildirim and Dr. Zihong Guo, and how they use simulations in their inventing process. They work in an invention/prototype laboratory in Bellevue, WA for Intellectual Ventures, a global leader in the business of invention.
Read more on: Inventing Makes use of Simulation
Certified Consultants | Posted on
June 25th, 2012 by
Phil Kinnane
COMSOL News contains two application briefs from our colleagues at AltaSim Technologies. The first has already been mentioned in this blog and interested many of the readers of this blog. This second story concerns Conjugate Heat Transfer.
Read more on: How Does Conjugate Heat Transfer Work?
COMSOL News 2012 | Posted on
June 20th, 2012 by
Phil Kinnane
According to a study done by Brunel University in the United Kingdom, the food sector is among the top five energy-consuming industries. The transportation of food, including keeping it refrigerated, is one of the larger contributing factors to this energy-consumption and subsequent greenhouse gas emissions.
Read more on: A Cool Way to Consider the Environment
