The COMSOL Desktop® is the integrated user environment for creating and managing simulations in the COMSOL Multiphysics® software. It includes the Model Builder window, model tree, Graphics window, as well as menus and toolbars with a multitude of modeling tools. In this blog post, we will show you how to customize the user interface and use a variety of keyboard shortcuts to get the most out of the modeling process.

If you’re looking for ways to manage multiple solutions, version 5.3 of the COMSOL Multiphysics® software offers several new tools for doing so. These include options for combining two solutions into one; storing solutions in different data sets so that they can be postprocessed and analyzed individually; and joining solutions to, for example, compare them. In this blog post, we will look at how to use these new tools.

One dessert that is sure to amaze your dinner guests is the baked Alaska. This classic treat consists of ice cream placed on a bed of sponge cake and covered in meringue. Although the dessert goes into a hot oven to caramelize the meringue, the ice cream inside surprisingly remains frozen. In this blog post, we use the heat transfer simulation capabilities of the COMSOL Multiphysics® software to find out how the baked Alaska works.

You can use the residual operator, new with COMSOL Multiphysics version 5.2, to evaluate and plot your model’s algebraic residual in order to troubleshoot convergence issues. This blog post demonstrates the use of the residual operator for visualizing and understanding the convergence properties of a turbulent flow simulation.

During sunny days, it’s tempting to bring food and drinks outside to enjoy the weather. However, it can be a challenge to keep wine (or any beverage) cold in the heat. Wine coolers supposedly keep chilled beverages cold for at least an hour. In this blog post, we use the COMSOL Multiphysics® software to see how a wine cooler works and whether or not it can keep drinks cool.

There is always time to think about how to improve your grilling skills. In this blog post, we show how to use the COMSOL Multiphysics® software to determine the best way to arrange the coals or briquettes in a charcoal grill for even heat and to avoid hot spots. Even heat is required when making a grilled pizza, for example.

A COMSOL Multiphysics® simulation typically includes one or more field quantities in its output. Depending on the number of field quantities, the geometry’s complexity, and the mesh density required for valid results, simulations can include millions of degrees of freedom (DOFs). Oftentimes, storing one or more scalar quantities or the results on a small geometry part is sufficient. Here, we explore tools for storing selected output quantities and minimizing model file sizes and the time required to display this data.