New and Improved Functionality

General Functionality

• Backward compatibility
• Version 4.0a is backward compatible with version 3.5a
• This was limited in version 4.0
• Unit systems
• Several unit systems are available in version 4.0a
• Settings available in the root node
• In version 4.0, all units were converted to SI units
• Web-based Model Library update
• Available from the Options menu

• Ability to move nodes up and down the tree in the Physics, Mesh, and Study branches
• Create and paste selections from, for example, text files and PDF-files
• Improved keyboard shortcuts for renaming, moving, and deleting nodes

Geometry

• Define lines from tangents in 2D

• LiveLink products and CAD Import
• Now available for client/server mode
• File import for Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5

• File Import for CATIA V5, R20

Physics, COMSOL Multiphysics

• AC/DC, thin slits modeled with lines
• Decreased mesh density with discontinuous insulation condition on interior boundaries

• Chemical Species Transport, Fluid Flow, and Heat Transfer:
• New default settings give excellent balance between accuracy and memory usage: This is achieved using stabilized p1-p1 elements
• Conditions for simulation of repetitive structures, so-called physics-specific periodic boundary conditions

Mesh

• New pyramid element in 3D
• Reads NASTRAN file containing pyramids
• For swept meshes where the source and destination faces share an edge and the source face contains a triangular mesh
• To convert a quad mesh to a triangular mesh for a face adjacent to a domain that that you want to mesh with tetrahedrons
• Enables boundary layer mesh in 3D for a geometry with sharp edges

Study

• The Study branch design is more transparent and user-friendly
• A new time-discrete solver decreases memory consumption for large problems
• Allows for arbitrary segregation within a time step
• Decreased memory use in 3D fluid flow, where it solves the momentum and continuity equations one-by-one using pressure correction

Results

• Shared settings for different plot types
• Custom fonts in plots, which makes it possible to use Japanese or Chinese characters in plot titles and legends
• Filter for plots
• Plot elements according to
• logical expressions
• Go to Source button

The AC/DC Module

• Ability to model thin structures using curves and lines
• Discontinuous interior boundary conditions such as electric insulation for electric currents and perfect magnetic conductor for magnetic fields

• User-friendly interface for simulation of rotating machinery

The Acoustics Module

• New multiphysics interface for Acoustic-Structure interactions
• Example application: Noise and vibration

The Chemical Engineering Module and the Reaction Engineering Module are Obsolete

• The Chemical Engineering Module and the Reaction Engineering Module are merged into the Chemical Reaction Engineering Module
• The fluid flow capabilities of the Chemical Engineering Module are now only available in the CFD Module

The Earth Science Module

• Geothermal heating and thermal dispersion in the Heat Transfer in Porous Media interface
• Darcy’s Law interface for variable density
• Turbulent flow using a Forchheimer Drag extension of the flow resistance in porous media

The Heat Transfer Module

• New solver decreases memory usage for 3D laminar flow
• Automatic ramping of the velocity for turbulent flow yields increased robustness in solution of turbulent flows

The RF Module

• Ability to model thin structures using curves and lines
• Discontinuous interior boundary conditions such as electric insulation for electric currents and perfect magnetic conductor for magnetic fields

The Structural Mechanics Module

• New elastoplastic material model
• Version 4.0a (and also version 3.5a) handles von Mises or user-defined yield criteria
• 4.0a includes a set of invariants (functionals of the Cauchy stress tensor), which describe more sophisticated yield functions and non-associated flow rule based on user-defined plastic potential

• New solver defaults for decreased memory usage