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COMSOL Multiphysics® 6.1 Release Highlights

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Nonlinear Structural Materials Module Updates

For users of the Nonlinear Structural Materials Module, COMSOL Multiphysics® version 6.1 brings a new Adiabatic Heating feature, enhanced capabilities for modeling viscoplasticity and hyperelasticity, and five new tutorial models. Read more about these updates below.

Adiabatic Heating

A new framework for handling adiabatic heating in solids, shells, and membranes has been added. Adiabatic heating is important when energy dissipates due to rapid deformations, which in turn increases the temperature in the object. You can incorporate this effect by adding an Adiabatic Heating subnode to the Solid Mechanics, Layered Shell, Shell, or Membrane interfaces.


Impact of a copper rod against a rigid plate. As the rod undergoes plastic deformation, the dissipated energy causes the temperature of the rod to increase rapidly.

Viscoplasticity Improvements

The Viscoplasticity node has a new framework for handling large viscoplastic strains based on the multiplicative decomposition of deformation gradients. The formulation produces significant improvements in computational speed and memory usage, and it makes it possible to add the Creep and Viscoplasticity features under the Hyperelastic Material node. In addition, the Chaboche and Perzyna models have been updated, and two new viscoplastic models have been introduced: the Bingham model and the Peric model. It is also now possible to specify User defined viscoplastic models. You can see these new improvements in the Lemaitre-Chaboche Viscoplastic Model and Viscoplastic Creep in Solder Joints models.

The COMSOL Multiphysics UI showing the Model Builder with the Viscoplasticity node highlighted, the corresponding Settings window, and a viscoplastic model in the Graphics window.
Settings for the revamped Viscoplasticity feature, with the Chaboche model selected.

Hyperelasticity Improvements

A new framework for handling the compressibility of all hyperelastic materials has been implemented. As a result of this, all material models have a new compressible formulation that also makes it possible to add Phase Field damage to all Hyperelastic Materials in the Solid Mechanics interface. In addition, it is now also possible to model wrinkling in hyperelastic materials in the Membrane interface. View these improvements in the new Inflation of a Square Hyperelastic Airbag and Wrinkling of a Cylindrical Membrane with Varying Thickness models.

An airbag model with the wrinkled regions shown in green.
The wrinkled regions (green) in an inflated airbag made from a hyperelastic material.

Additional Functionality in Thin Layers

The new Thin Layer node in the Solid Mechanics interface can include the Hyperelastic and Nonlinear Elastic material models. Other inelastic effects can also be included by adding, for example, Damage, Creep, or Plasticity subnodes. You can see this additional functionality in the new Thin Layer Interfaces model.

A 2D thin layer model showing the displacement and stress in the Rainbow color table.
Displacement and stress jump using a solid approximation of the thin layer.

New Tutorial Models

COMSOL Multiphysics® version 6.1 brings several new tutorial models to the Nonlinear Structural Materials Module.

Inflation of a Square Hyperelastic Airbag

An airbag model with wrinkles and the stress shown in red arrows.
A hyperelastic airbag showing wrinkles, where the second principal stress turns compressive (red regions).

Application Library Title:

membrane_airbag_inflation_hyperelastic

Download from the Application Gallery

Wrinkling of a Cylindrical Membrane with Varying Thickness

Four cylindrical models showing the wrinkled regions in purple.
Wrinkled regions (purple) in cylindrical hyperelastic membranes of varying thickness under axial stretch and internal fluid pressure.

Application Library Title:

membrane_varying_thickness

Download from the Application Gallery

Contact Analysis of a Rubber Boot Seal

Six results of a rubber boot seal model showing displacements at points of contacts.
Multiconvolution rubber boot seals, which protect flexible joints on shafts, undergo large displacements where they experience contact with the shaft itself and self-contact with other flanges of the seal.

Application Library Title:

rubber_boot_seal

Download from the Application Gallery

Submodeling with Plasticity

A submodel of a shaft in the Prism color table.
A localized nonlinearity is incorporated into a submodel of a shaft. The submodel and its computed equivalent plastic strain are shown.

Application Library Title:

shaft_submodeling_plasticity

Download from the Application Gallery

Thin Layer Interfaces

Six results of a thin layer model showing the behavior of a soft material between rigid material.
Different modeling strategies are adopted to describe the behavior of a thin layer of soft material that is embedded between two sides of a rigid material.

Application Library Title:

thin_layer_interfaces

Download from the Application Gallery