Mathematical modelling moves on to new peaks

Femlab 3 uses proven finite-element analysis to efficiently solve models of physical phenomena so engineers and scientists can better understand their underlying properties.

For years Comsol has been known as an industry innovator of software that solves large, complex sets of partial differential equations (PDEs) in engineering and scientific contexts, especially in the field known as multiphysics.

Today the firm announces a dramatic leap in performance with Femlab 3.

Now available as a stand-alone program while still being able to tightly integrate into Matlab from The MathWorks, the firm's designers wrote optimised code from the ground-up in C++ and Java.

Compared with its predecessor, this new product can compute some models as much as 20 times faster while using as much as 20 times less memory.

Thus in today's standard PCs it can accommodate extremely large problems, and its accelerated Java graphics perform visualisations 30 times as fast.

In addition, a sophisticated user interface that allows scientists and engineers to define complex models in minutes combines with a wide range of optimised solvers to make it the fastest, most efficient modelling software of its type on the market.

Femlab 3 uses the proven finite-element analysis (FEA) method to efficiently solve models of physical phenomena so engineers and scientists can better understand their underlying properties.

They can thereby predict how a given system will function without building an expensive prototype, and they can make a process more efficient so it takes less time or makes the best use of expensive raw materials.

The software can model virtually any physical phenomena someone can describe with PDEs including heat transfer, fluid flow, electromagnetics and structural mechanics.

Further, Femlab 3 is interdisciplinary; within one easy-to-use graphical interface a researcher can investigate the interactions of these various effects.

For instance, the analysis of a fuel cell might involve not only chemical reactions and electrical currents but also fluid dynamics and heat transfer.

Femlab 3 couples these various transport processes and reactions faster and simpler than any other software.

"We've invested more than a hundred programmer-years of effort in this product, and we're extremely gratified with the results", comments Svante Littmarck, President and CEO of Comsol.

"We've created a package that is many times improved over its predecessor.

With Femlab 3, users now have the choice of using the software stand alone, or they can benefit from its tight coupling into Matlab.

They can then take advantage of that package's extra analysis capabilities as well as tap into significant addons such as Simulink for graphics-based system simulation or the Control System Toolbox to tie physical phenomena into control-system design.

Users now get the best of both worlds".

Femlab 3 is an equation-based package whose highlights start with its streamlined modelling capabilities.

"Modelling in traditional packages is extremely time consuming.

Roughly 90% of the time needed to simulate a system gets taken up with setting up and defining the model.

In Femlab 3 you can build one in minutes", explains Dr Lars Langemyr, VP of Research and Development.

"We spent considerable effort creating a user interface that's not only easy to use but is also very flexible", he adds.

That Java-based interface provides a number of advantages.

First, users can create a model without any coding.

The software has access to a library of more than 200 completely solved and fully documented models of commonly encountered systems in fields such as waveguides, antennas, fuel cells, biochips and MEMS (microelectromechanical systems), to name just a few.

Engineers can use them as a timesaving starting point, modifying an existing geometry and equation set rather than starting from scratch.

Specifically, calling a model automatically brings up the underlying equations, for which users can work with tables and text boxes to easily name the variables, define their values or even modify the equations.

In contrast, other packages make it extremely difficult to modify model equations, if they provide any access to them at all.

For geometries, a built in CAD editor allows users to quickly draw 2D and 3D objects and systems.

When they then select the type of model - whether for heat transfer, acoustics, transport of chemicals, fluid dynamics, diffusion, electromagnetics, structural mechanics or others - Femlab automatically sets up the corresponding equations.

If they wish, however, users can enter their own equations directly by typing them into a dialog box that serves as a type of free-form equation editor.

Indeed, Femlab 3 is the only package of its type where users can directly enter PDEs in a familiar form.

Further, they can combine and interlink any types of phenomena to perform unlimited multiphysics.

Explaining the impact this user interface has on his work, Dr Jordan MacInnes at the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Sheffield, comments: "I was studying electrokinetic flow in microchannels, and after several months working with another package I was finishing up the model definition.

A short time later I got a copy of Femlab 3 and, thanks to its equations-based interface and flexible entry of variables and their values, it took me only a couple of hours to complete the same model.

I simply couldn't believe how much time I saved".

When it's time to compute a system's static or dynamic states, Femlab 3 first selects the optimal choice from its suite of state-of-the-art solvers.

This default selection is often the best, but users can fine-tune solver settings for special circumstances.

Comsol's programmers have devoted many hours coding these solvers to be extremely fast.

Compared to the previous product in the family, Femlab 3 generally solves problems in half the time and in half the memory, and in some cases it achieves an astounding 20x improvement in both speed and memory efficiency.

On a standard desktop PC, Femlab 3 handles problems with as many as a million degrees of freedom in areas such as structural mechanics, heat transfer and chemical convection-diffusion, among many others.

The package can treat stationary, Eigenvalue and time-dependent problems of this size.

The solution time in these cases typically ranges from 15 minutes to a couple of hours depending on the solver technique and the speed of the computer.

After the software has computed the solution to the thousands or millions of simultaneous equations in a model, its Java-based front end creates a stunning high-resolution visualisation in less than a second.

Further, the interface allows real-time, smooth rotation of a 3D image in any direction; the model's screen representation follows the user's mouse actions with no perceptible delays.

Another outstanding feature is the program's animation capabilities, which enables fast insight into a dynamic process, plus the ability to generate AVI or QuickTime movies that researchers can send to colleagues.

This product will play a large role in helping the market for modelling software reach the impressive growth rates that various market researchers are predicting.

According to numbers published by Daratech, systems performance modelling software will enjoy 14% annual growth for the next five years, topping $1.4 billion in 2007.

The firm notes that factors driving this growth are pressures on manufacturers to cut expenses in the product-development phase, shorten time to market through faster design iterations that arise by eliminating or reducing physical prototypes, and improving overall product quality.

"We're confident that Femlab 3 represents such a leap in performance that it will contribute largely to our branch of the software industry meeting these expectations", says Littmarck.

Femlab 3 runs under Windows 98/2000/NT 4.0/XP as well as Linux, Solaris and HP-UX.

The minimum system configuration is a Pentium processor, 256Mbyte of RAM (512Mbyte recommended) and an OpenGL-compatible graphics card.

A single-user perpetual licence for Femlab 3 lists for GBP 4995 including first-class support and automatic upgrades for 12 months; special academic pricing is available.

Production deliveries will begin in January, 2004.

The package will be available from Comsol as well as through its distributors around the world.

Back to top