In 1870, an audience watched as a stage was set with two buckets, one on top of the other. Due to a small hole in the upper bucket, water poured into the lower bucket, bending as it did so. To the audience’s amazement, sunlight followed the bend of water — a phenomenon later termed total internal reflection. The performer on stage, John Tyndall, was one of the many scientists who tried to control the most visible form of energy: light.

When simulating heat transfer in fluids with forced convection, we can often neglect the influence of temperature variations on the flow field unless the requirements on accuracy are very high. Computing the flow field independently might substantially decrease the computational cost with a negligible impact on accuracy in the solution. In this blog post, we demonstrate the advantages of using a one-way coupling in the COMSOL Multiphysics® software with a nonisothermal flow example.

Have you ever feared a deadline because your model took longer to solve than expected? Here, we discuss common causes of time delays and how to prevent them. Let’s start with a real-world example: solving a complex modeling project on a deadline.

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.

The latest version of the AC/DC Module enables you to create electrostatics models that combine wires, surfaces, and solids. The technology is known as the boundary element method and can be used on its own or in combination with finite-element-method-based modeling. In this blog post, let’s see how the new functionality can be used to conveniently set up a model that includes a number of very thin spiral wires.

Guest blogger Linus Fagerberg from Lightness by Design returns to share a novel approach for predicting external noise generation in muffler designs. In recent years, the European Union has introduced stricter noise emission limits for road vehicles. For those designing mufflers, these limits make it important to create more efficient ways of developing and assessing the performance of their designs. At Lightness by Design, we’ve developed a novel approach that accomplishes this goal.

Today, guest blogger Thomas Clavet of EMC3 Consulting, a COMSOL Certified Consultant, discusses simulating phased array and geometrically focused probes. Ultrasound focusing is widely used in various industrial applications, such as nondestructive testing (NDT) and medical imaging. For clinical applications, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a specific aspect of this technology where most of the power provided by the probe is carried to a targeted zone to coagulate biological tissues. This blog post discusses ultrasound focusing simulation.

As of version 5.3 of the COMSOL Multiphysics® software, the Subsurface Flow Module includes useful new features that enable you to set up complex modeling tasks more efficiently. For example, when modeling wells, meshing is significantly easier and is more intuitive to set up with the Well feature. In this blog post, we look at the Well feature, discussing how to use it and ways it enhances the modeling process.

Have you ever been curious about how to model supersonic flows, like those around Concorde or fighter jets? Generally, this process requires the resolution of shocks or expansion fans in the flow. Resolving discontinuities (e.g., shock waves) requires a high resolution and the numerical stability of strongly coupled mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations for fluid flow. Let’s discuss how to model supersonic flow past a diamond airfoil, which involves resolving shocks and expansion fans.

Have you ever tried to plot multiple quantities on one graph, only to realize that the scales don’t match up? You can solve this problem by adding a second y-axis to your 1D plot to include two scales of values. In the video below, we introduce a case where you would want two y-axes. We then show you how to add a second y-axis to your graph and create helpful annotations in the COMSOL Multiphysics® software.