The latest version of the COMSOL Multiphysics® software is now available! COMSOL Multiphysics version 5.5 includes two new add-on modules and a wide range of enhanced features and functionality. Take a peek at what’s new here and browse the full Release Highlights by clicking the button at the bottom of this blog post.
2 New, Industry-Driven Modules
COMSOL Multiphysics® version 5.5 brings the addition of two new add-on modules to the product suite: the Metal Processing Module and Porous Media Flow Module. The Metal Processing Module enables you to analyze metal phase transformation for application areas including steel quenching, welding, heat treatment, metal additive manufacturing, and carburization.
A steel spur gear modeled with the Metal Processing Module.
The Porous Media Flow Module is designed for engineers working in industries such as food, pharmaceuticals, and biomedicine, with specialized functionality for single- and multiphase flow in porous media, as well as linear and nonlinear flow in saturated media.
Undamaged and fractured water filters (left) and a packed bed storage tank (right) modeled with the Porous Media Flow Module.
Both the Metal Processing Module and Porous Media Flow Module include capabilities for seamless coupling with other physics.
Enhanced Modeling Features
Aside from the new products, COMSOL Multiphysics® version 5.5 contains many new features and enhanced functionality. In this blog post, we will focus on a few major updates.
For one, you can now customize the Model Builder workflow by creating your own add-ins. Add-ins build on the functionality of model methods — like setting up a geometry sequence from external data, adjusting solver settings based on specific criteria, or creating a plot group template — enabling you to save them as separate MPH-files for use in any model.
New sketching tools in the core functionality make it easier to create drawings in 2D and in 3D work planes. The Design Module expands on these features by adding the ability to set constraints and dimensions for your drawings. You can also make these drawings parametric, enabling you to run optimization studies, made easier with built-in tools for shape optimization in the Optimization Module.
A microvalve geometry sketched with the Design Module and optimized with the Optimization Module in COMSOL Multiphysics® version 5.5.
Also, with version 5.5, it is now more efficient to distribute simulation applications compiled with COMSOL Compiler™. A new option enables you to compile standalone executable files without including COMSOL Runtime™, so the file size of compiled applications can be reduced to tens of MB in some cases. COMSOL Runtime™ will be downloaded automatically when needed.
Physics-Specific Updates
Browse the slideshow to see some of the new and updated features in the add-on modules for COMSOL Multiphysics version 5.5:
There are new built-in tools for shape optimization in the Optimization Module.
Solve larger acoustics models; this car cabin interior can now be solved up to 7 kHz, whereas it would only converge for up to about 3 kHz in earlier versions of the software. 
Use a new Viscoelastic Flow interface for flow phenomena that include elastic effects.
Generate a material from a thermodynamic system for chemical modeling.
Model piezoelectric materials with the Layered Shell interface.
You can now perform multibody analyses of roller chain sprocket models.
For ray tracing, rays can be released based on the electric field on a boundary.
There is a new TEM port and Via type of lumped port for RF simulation.
There is a new specific absorption rate (SAR) calculation feature.
You can more easily model fluid-structure interaction (FSI) of two-phase flows with new multiphysics interfaces.
You can more easily model fluid-structure interaction (FSI) of two-phase flows with new multiphysics interfaces.
See What Else Is New in COMSOL Multiphysics® 5.5
Click the button below to view the full Release Highlights for the latest version of the COMSOL® software.
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