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*Now Available* COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0 with the New Application Builder

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Hello COMSOL Community,

COMSOL Multiphysics(R) 5.0 with the Application Builder was released on Friday October 31. With the new and revolutionary Application Builder, you can easily build apps based on your COMSOL(R) models to be shared with colleagues and customers throughout the world.

COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0 can be downloaded at:
www.comsol.com/support/download

Read the release highlights:
www.comsol.com/release/5.0

*News in COMSOL Multiphysics*
- Application Builder: Provides you with an automated way to build a powerful yet simplified interface for any COMSOL model, which can then be shared with your colleagues and customers. Included with the Windows(R) version of COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0, the Application Builder provides all the tools needed to build and run simulation applications.

*News in add-on products*
- Drastically improved handling of large arrays and CAD assemblies where hanging nodes are allowed.

- The Multiphysics node, introduced in COMSOL 4.4, has been greatly expanded to cover additional multiphysics couplings.

- Mechanical: Model geometrically nonlinear beams, nonlinear elastic materials, and elasticity in joints using the products for modeling structural mechanics. In the Heat Transfer Module, thin layer, film, fracture, and rod as well as cryogenic damage and parallelized radiation have been added. The Acoustics Module has two new methods for modeling high frequency or geometrical acoustics (Ray Acoustics and Acoustic Diffusion Equation).

- Electrical: The AC/DC Module, RF Module, and Wave Optics Module now contain a frequency- and material-controlled auto mesh suggestion that offers the easy, one-click meshing of infinite elements and periodic conditions. The Plasma Module now contains interfaces for modeling equilibrium discharges.

- Fluid: Create automatic pipe connections to 3D flow domains in the Pipe Flow Module. The CFD Module is expanded with two new algebraic turbulence models, as well as turbulent fans and grilles.

- Chemical: The Chemical Reaction Engineering Module now contains a new Chemistry interface that can be used as a Material node for chemical reactions.

*New products*
- Ray Optics Module: Industry-leading simulation tool for analyzing systems in which the electromagnetic wavelength is smaller than the smallest geometric detail in the model. Includes the ability to compute the trajectory of rays in graded and ungraded media, and the modeling of polychromatic, unpolarized, and partially coherent light.

- Design Module: Expands the available toolset of CAD functionalities in the COMSOL product suite. The module includes the following 3D CAD operations: loft, fillet, chamfer, midsurface, and thicken, in addition to CAD import and geometry repair functionality.

- LiveLink(TM) for Revit(R): Allows COMSOL users to interface with the building information modeling software from Autodesk(R) and seamlessly synchronize a geometry between Autodesk(R) Revit(R) Architecture and COMSOL, allowing multiphysics simulations to be brought into the architectural design workflow.

COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0 can be downloaded at:
www.comsol.com/support/download

Read the release highlights:
www.comsol.com/release/5.0

Enjoy COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0 and the Application Builder!
Valerio

--
Valerio Marra, Ph.D.
Technical Marketing Manager
COMSOL, Inc.
+1-781-273-3322
valerio@comsol.com

2 Replies Last Post Dec 5, 2014, 1:06 p.m. EST
COMSOL Moderator

Hello Valerio Marra

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If you do not hold an on-subscription license, you may find an answer in another Discussion or in the Knowledge Base.


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Posted: 10 years ago Dec 3, 2014, 3:03 p.m. EST
Is version 5 capable of utilizing GPU processing?

A Nvidia Tesla K80 has roughly 50 times the processing power of an Intel Xeon E5-2699... and the K80 costs less, has much faster bandwidth, has 24 GB of onboard memory, etc..

I'm looking at getting a new system quoted to run COMSOL on, and it's frustrating to be forced to consider paying $80,000 for a machine that technically runs at ~5% of the speed of an alternative $60,000 machine...

At this point, most major scientific research is done using GPU processing - because it's well suited to the task of massive-multi-parallel floating point operations. If COMSOL cannot utilize GPU processors, then that is a severe handicap for those using COMSOL.

Please advise as to whether I should be looking into the faster $60,000 machine or the much slower $80,000 machine... and if you suggest the slower option, please further advise when we might look forward to enjoying more than an order of magnitude upgrade in speed at a lower price.
Is version 5 capable of utilizing GPU processing? A Nvidia Tesla K80 has roughly 50 times the processing power of an Intel Xeon E5-2699... and the K80 costs less, has much faster bandwidth, has 24 GB of onboard memory, etc.. I'm looking at getting a new system quoted to run COMSOL on, and it's frustrating to be forced to consider paying $80,000 for a machine that technically runs at ~5% of the speed of an alternative $60,000 machine... At this point, most major scientific research is done using GPU processing - because it's well suited to the task of massive-multi-parallel floating point operations. If COMSOL cannot utilize GPU processors, then that is a severe handicap for those using COMSOL. Please advise as to whether I should be looking into the faster $60,000 machine or the much slower $80,000 machine... and if you suggest the slower option, please further advise when we might look forward to enjoying more than an order of magnitude upgrade in speed at a lower price.

Bjorn Sjodin COMSOL Employee

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Posted: 10 years ago Dec 5, 2014, 1:06 p.m. EST
Hi Glenn,

You are bringing up a very interesting question. We are in regular contact with various manufacturers of GPU processors and we are continuously testing our software for use with GPUs. GPUs are very well-suited for full matrix operations such as for algorithms within signal and image processing, certain finite difference schemes, etc. At this time, GPUs turn out to be ill-suited for the type of large sparse matrices generated by COMSOL for multiphysics analysis. Most or all performance gain is lost in the shuffling of data needed to accommodate the GPU architecture. That said, we are continuously monitoring the technology advances in this area, and are prepared to release solvers that utilize GPUs as soon as there are computational benefits to our users.

Best regards,
Bjorn Sjodin
COMSOL, Inc.
Hi Glenn, You are bringing up a very interesting question. We are in regular contact with various manufacturers of GPU processors and we are continuously testing our software for use with GPUs. GPUs are very well-suited for full matrix operations such as for algorithms within signal and image processing, certain finite difference schemes, etc. At this time, GPUs turn out to be ill-suited for the type of large sparse matrices generated by COMSOL for multiphysics analysis. Most or all performance gain is lost in the shuffling of data needed to accommodate the GPU architecture. That said, we are continuously monitoring the technology advances in this area, and are prepared to release solvers that utilize GPUs as soon as there are computational benefits to our users. Best regards, Bjorn Sjodin COMSOL, Inc.

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