Reading physorg.com, I came across this story about miniaturizing antennas for smaller wireless devices. Apparently, the size of the antenna often limits the size of the wireless device – so let’s make those antennas smaller. The article is about a group from the University of Michigan who achieves this by using a hemispherical substrate with a spiraling antenna taking advantage of the volume that the hemisphere provides.

One of the things I have noticed from the FEM vs FVM debate is that when you want to couple other physics to fluid flow, then FEM is the best method to do this with. It’s fitting then that my colleague in our Palo Alto office, John Dunec, ran a webinar this week on Multiphysics Flow Simulations with COMSOL.

The release of Version 4.2a was an exciting event for us at COMSOL. I had the opportunity to see a preview of new products and the big one for me was the Particle Tracing Module. Many of our customers and colleagues in the simulation industry had been requesting this for quite some time. I must admit that I thought it was just because they wanted a different type of postprocessing feature; another way of looking at streamlines.

As most skilled COMSOL users, I am sure you know that you are not limited to just selecting what is in our drop-down lists. Say that you have invented your own measure of structural stress. You want it to be equal to the quadratic mean of the Tresca and von Mises stresses. Go to Plot Parameters to find out what these predefined stresses are called (tresca_smsld and mises_smsld if you are modeling in 3D with the Structural Mechanics Module). Now […]

This week I will talk about CAD import. Many times, the first task a new user of COMSOL is up to is to lay their hands on the CAD models of the design team. After all, COMSOL handles the analysis, which needs to be closely tied with the design process. Ideally, design and analysis is integrated in one single process. There are different ways to marry the CAD models with the analysis. File based import is maybe the most common […]

Gecko lizards use dry adhesion forces to climb vertical and even backward-slanting walls. Yet, despite the strength they provide for holding their body to such walls, you can easily pluck them from their surface, and no residue is left behind. Imagine doing that with a TV.

I have just read a cool article about the University of Michigan’s solar car. Back when I was a young and hopeful engineering student in Australia , the World Solar Challenge really sparked my imagination. This is the race from the top of Australia (Darwin) to the bottom (Adelaide) across the desert where the cars are powered by solar energy, which is basically captured by solar cells on the car roofs.

COMSOL Multiphysics v4.2 Release Highlights This video shows the new features that are in COMSOL Multiphysics version 4.2

BURLINGTON, MA (November 9, 2009) — More than 700 of the world’s top practitioners of multiphysics simulation recently gathered for the fifth annual COMSOL Conference in October. Complementary events were held in Boston and then Milan, Italy. The next stop for the annual world tour of this conference focused on multiphysics modeling and simulation for engineering and scientific research is Bangalore, India, November 13-14, 2009, followed by additional conferences in Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, and other locations.