Geometry and Mesh Updates

COMSOL Multiphysics® version 5.4 brings several geometry and mesh updates, including collapsing narrow face regions in your geometry, improvements to the Adapt mesh operation, and selecting specific physics interfaces to control your mesh. View all of the geometry and mesh updates below.

Collapse Narrow Face Regions

A new Collapse Face Regions virtual operation has been added that detects and collapses narrow regions of faces automatically. This is helpful for when you import a geometry that has a face with narrow regions, as seen in the associated image, and where you would like to ignore its influence on the mesh.

A demonstration of the new Collapse Face Regions virtual operation in COMSOL Multiphysics 5.4.

After using the Collapse Face Regions feature on the face highlighted in blue, the mesh is improved.

After using the Collapse Face Regions feature on the face highlighted in blue, the mesh is improved.

Remove Details on Selected Entities

The Remove Details operation has been equipped with a selection list, which means that you can now set different settings for the Remove Details operation on different parts of the geometry. This is useful when preparing a geometry for meshing where different parts of the geometry admits varying levels of simplification.

Highlight Resulting Geometry Objects

You can highlight the geometry objects resulting from the selected node in the Model Builder by clicking the Highlight Result button. When you are building a geometry sequence, this can be helpful to easily discern the effect of the selected geometry node on the geometry.

An example of highlighting geometry objects in a COMSOL Multiphysics model.

The object generated by the Difference 1 node is highlighted in yellow after clicking the Highlight Result button in the Settings window.

The object generated by the Difference 1 node is highlighted in yellow after clicking the Highlight Result button in the Settings window.

Adaptation by General Mesh Modification

When solving a model using mesh adaptation, previous versions of the COMSOL Multiphysics® software could only adapt by means of mesh refinement. The Adapt operation can now modify the mesh by making a general modification using a combination of refining elements, coarsening elements, and moving points.

A screenshot showing the difference between a model with and without mesh adaption.

The operation has a new option: General modification. The bottom mesh shows the result from this adaptation method and the top mesh shows the result before adaptation.

The operation has a new option: General modification. The bottom mesh shows the result from this adaptation method and the top mesh shows the result before adaptation.

Select Interfaces for Physics-Controlled Meshing

You can now select which of the component’s physics interfaces should contribute to physics-controlled meshing. This gives you more control over how you want the software to mesh your model when using multiphysics functionality.

Important Mesh Enhancements

  • The Refine operation can be applied to any selection, and mesh refinement is supported for all mesh element types
  • The Free Quad operation generates more efficient and higher-quality quad meshes for domains (in 2D) and planar faces (in 3D) that have the shape of a circle sector
  • The Swept mesh operation now supports domains with isolated vertices and edges
  • Use the Convert, Refine, and Adapt operations in mesh sequences with imported meshes
  • Significant performance improvements have been made for the boundary layer meshing algorithm and the algorithm creating visualization meshes

New Tutorial Model

COMSOL Multiphysics® version 5.4 brings a new meshing tutorial model.

Swept Meshing of a Bracket Geometry

The meshed geometry of a bracket model. This tutorial demonstrates both how to partition a 3D part to create a structured mesh, and also how to combine structured and unstructured meshes in the same part.

Search in the Application Library:
bracket_swept_mesh

Download from the Application Gallery