Multidomain Design and Optimization based on Comsol Multiphysics: Applications for Mechatronic Devices

Although the Finite Element Method (FEM) has been proven to be a powerful tool, it still has limitations. FEM is computationally heavy and can be at times unstable especially when solving highly nonlinear coupled problems. Thus it is very challenging and time consuming to run parametric studies. Consequently, a novel smart and parallelizable algorithm (SPA) was developed. This algorithm can detect failed simulations and take countermeasures as well as perform parallel computations. To test the algorithm, SPA was coupled to COMSOL Multiphysics and was able to successfully solve 20,520 simulations in seven weeks without crashing. If solved linearly, around six months would have been required. COMSOL Multiphysics has proven to be a powerful since it is able to accurately model phenomena using different physics. Coupling SPA with COMSOL opens up new possibilities enabling smart and parallelizable FEM simulations for fast prototyping.