Mesh Blog Posts

Model Translational Motion with the Deformed Mesh Interfaces
2 interfaces for manually defining the deformation of finite element mesh: Deformed Geometry and Moving Mesh. Learn when and how to use each in this blog post…

Improving Your Meshing with Swept Meshes
Get a demonstration of using swept meshing to generate efficient and accurate finite element meshes for some common modeling cases, such as calculating the fluid flow through a network of pipes.

Guide to Frequency Domain Wave Electromagnetics Modeling
Read this blog post for your introduction to the various types of problems that you can solve in the RF and Wave Optics modules with COMSOL Multiphysics®.

Improving Your Meshing with Partitioning
It can be tedious to subdivide your CAD geometry into a finite element mesh. In this blog post, we demonstrate how to use a manual meshing method called geometric partitioning to do so.

Using Perfectly Matched Layers and Scattering Boundary Conditions for Wave Electromagnetics Problems
Learn how to use scattering boundary conditions and perfectly matched layers to truncate domains for your wave electromagnetics problem — and which technique is best for your modeling scenario.

Fillet Away Your Electromagnetic Field Singularities
Did you know that you can use fillets and chamfers in your electromagnetics models to avoid electromagnetic field singularities? Learn how in this tutorial blog post.

Automatic Meshing for Electromagnetic Simulations
Ever struggle to mesh the infinite elements or perfectly matched layers in your electromagnetics simulations? Automatic meshing can help >>

Using Virtual Operations to Simplify Your Geometry
CAD geometry: A set of data structures that provide a very precise method for describing the shapes of parts (called boundary representation, or B-rep).

Create Geometry from an Imported Mesh
Did you know that as of COMSOL Multiphysics® version 5.0, imported meshes can easily be converted into solid geometry objects for further investigation and modeling capabilities?

Size Parameters for Free Tetrahedral Meshing in COMSOL Multiphysics
COMSOL Multiphysics® has 9 built-in size parameter sets when meshing. In this blog post, we’ll discuss size parameters for 1 of these sets: free tetrahedral meshing.

Using Adaptive Meshing for Local Solution Improvement
One of the perennial questions in finite element modeling is how to choose a mesh. We want a fine enough mesh to give accurate answers, but not too fine, as that would lead to an impractical solution time. As we’ve discussed previously, adaptive mesh refinement lets the software improve the mesh, and by default it will minimize the overall error in the model. However, we often are only interested in accurate results over some subset of the entire model space. […]

Meshing Considerations for Nonlinear Static Finite Element Problems
As part of our solver blog series we have discussed solving nonlinear static finite element problems, load ramping for improving convergence of nonlinear problems, and nonlinearity ramping for improving convergence of nonlinear problems. We have also introduced meshing considerations for linear static problems, as well as how to identify singularities and what to do about them when meshing. Building on these topics, we will now address how to prepare your mesh for efficiently solving nonlinear finite element problems.

Meshing Your Geometry: When to Use the Various Element Types
In a previous blog entry, we introduced meshing considerations for linear static problems. One of the key concepts there was the idea of mesh convergence — as you refine the mesh, the solution will become more accurate. In this post, we will delve deeper into how to choose an appropriate mesh to start your mesh convergence studies for linear static finite element problems.

How to Identify and Resolve Singularities in the Model when Meshing
In our previous post on Meshing Considerations for Linear Static Problems, we found that, in the limit of mesh refinement, the solution to the finite element model would converge toward the true solution. We also saw that adaptive mesh refinement could be used to generate a mesh that would have smaller elements in regions where the error was higher, rather than simply using smaller elements everywhere in the model. In this post, we will examine a couple of common pitfalls […]

Meshing Considerations for Linear Static Problems
In this blog entry, we introduce meshing considerations for linear static finite element problems. This is the first in a series of postings on meshing techniques that is meant to provide guidance on how to approach the meshing of your finite element model with confidence.

How to Implement a Mesh Refinement Study
A couple of weeks ago, I led a webinar on postprocessing and visualization features in COMSOL Multiphysics. This webinar was very popular among COMSOL users, so I wanted to follow up with a blog post to highlight one of the important topics we covered — performing a mesh refinement study in COMSOL Multiphysics.

How to 3D Print COMSOL Models
Quite often we get asked the question “can I 3D print my COMSOL model?” Well, as of version 4.3b, the answer is “yes!” This is because it is now possible to export geometries and meshes as STL files, which is one of the standard file formats for 3D printing. This allows for rapid prototyping of designs; there is no need to outsource parts to machine shops. It is quite remarkable that you could conceive, simulate, optimize, and prototype a design […]

Mesh Refinement for Wave Problems
This week we are happy to have Kyle Koppenhoefer of AltaSim Technologies as a guest blogger. As COMSOL Certified Consultants, AltaSim can share valuable insights into using the software — today on the topic of meshing wave problems. As part of our efforts to assist COMSOL users in performing high-quality analysis, we recently used our bi-monthly email to remind users to include twelve degrees of freedom per wavelength when meshing wave problems. This article builds on our previous advice. Wave-type […]

Sweep Your Meshes with Ease
Swept meshing is a geometry discretization technique available in COMSOL Multiphysics for specific types of geometries, including thin geometries, geometries with bends, and models with little or no variation in a specific direction. A swept mesh starts at a source boundary and sweeps along to a specified destination boundary. In previous versions of COMSOL Multiphysics, the source and destination boundaries generally needed to be specified by the user. However, in the latest release, COMSOL Multiphysics version 4.3b, the swept mesh […]

Meshing and Optimization in Engineering Magazines
Online engineering magazines, like Design World and Desktop Engineering, are great for anyone out there interested in emerging technologies. I especially liked a few recent articles: two in Design World’s “CAE Solutions” section and one in Desktop Engineering’s simulation section, detailing a couple of major topics important to finite element analysis, or FEA. First there is meshing, the foundation of FEA software. Second, there is optimization, which is all about maximizing efficiency and improving results. The key for any production […]