The Application Gallery features COMSOL Multiphysics® tutorial and demo app files pertinent to the electrical, structural, acoustics, fluid, heat, and chemical disciplines. You can use these examples as a starting point for your own simulation work by downloading the tutorial model or demo app file and its accompanying instructions.
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Vibrations of a Disk Backed by an Air-Filled Cylinder
The vibration modes of a thin or thick circular disc are well known, and it is possible to compute the corresponding eigenfrequencies to arbitrary precision from a series solution. The same is true for the acoustic modes of an air-filled cylinder with perfectly rigid walls. A more interesting question to ask is: What happens if the cylinder is sealed in one end not by a rigid wall but by a thin ...
Contact Analysis of a Snap Hook Using a Penalty Formulation
This example simulates the insertion of a snap hook in its groove. Here, the purpose of the contact modeling is only to transmit correct contact forces in a global sense into the model, which is a situation well suited for using the penalty method. This contact algorithm is based on the penalty factor formulation related to the penetration of the solid parts in contact. In some cases, this ...
Fuel Cell Bipolar Plate
A fuel cell stack operates at temperatures just below 100 °C, which means that it has to be heated at start-up. The fuel cell stack consists of unit cell of anode, membrane, and cathode connected in series through bipolar plates. This study presents a model that couples the thermal and structural deformations in a fuel cell bipolar plate. The magnitude and position of the thermal stresses ...
MEMS Pressure Sensor Drift due to Hygroscopic Swelling
Modern integrated circuits are available as plastic encapsulated microcircuits (PEM). These devices are molded out of polymeric materials and epoxy resins in order to protect the internal semiconductors. Unfortunately, polymeric mold compounds absorb moisture when exposed to a humid environment, thus swelling and causing undesired strains, which can be as high as thermal strains. This ...
Eigenfrequency Shifts Caused by Temperature Changes
This example explores the shift in natural frequencies caused by changing the temperature. One study investigates a doubly clamped beam where both ends are fixed, while the other study looks at a cantilever beam where only one end is fixed. The following effects are studied: * Stress stiffening * Change in size * Constraint effects * Temperature-dependent Young's modulus Results show that the ...
Fundamental Eigenfrequency of a Rotating Blade
High rotational speed in rotating machineries can result in centrifugal forces of considerable magnitude. The forces induced by the rotation give rise to two counteracting effects: stress-stiffening and spin-softening (or centrifugal softening). The former is caused by the stationary stress field created by the centrifugal force and acts to increase the stiffness of the body, and so increase its ...
Assembly with a Hinge
In mechanical assemblies, parts are sometimes connected so that they are free to move relative to each other in one or more degrees of freedom. Examples of such connections are ball joints, hinges, and different types of bearings. If the details of the connection are not the subjects of the analysis, it is often possible to model the connection using the Rigid Connector feature in COMSOL ...
Truss Tower Buckling
Buckling analysis is the search for the critical compressive load beyond which structures become unstable. The Truss Tower Buckling analysis application simulates the buckling of a truss tower under vertical compressive loads to provide the critical compressive load. With the app, you can compute and analyze the buckling load for a tower under different conditions of geometry, i.e., various ...
Interference Fit Connection in a Mountain Bike Fork
Interference fit is a technique used to join two pipes with each other. One pipe that is larger than the available space is cooled down. Once shrunk it is fitted into the available space of a larger pipe that in turn expands. At the interface a contact pressure builds up that determines the strength of the connection. This type of connection is simulated in a model of a mountain bike fork where ...
Generalized Kelvin Viscoelastic Material
The behavior of viscoelastic materials can be represented by conceptual models composed of elastic and viscous elements connected in series or in parallel. The rheology of the generalized Kelvin model (also called generalized Kelvin-Voigt model) consists of an elastic spring to represent the instantaneous stiffness plus n Kelvin-Voigt branches connected in series. This example shows how to ...