Adding annotation plots to your plot groups is an easy way to label the plots of your simulation results with names, comments, and values of quantities evaluated at specified locations. In this blog post, we’ll explore adding annotation plots to a model of a heat sink.

Modeling complex geometries with thin structures can be very costly in terms of computational effort, particularly as such structures require quite a lot of mesh elements in order to resolve them. COMSOL Multiphysics provides dedicated features for modeling thin structures so that such models can be solved efficiently while maintaining accuracy. To set up and postprocess thin structures, COMSOL Multiphysics also provides specialized operators to help you consider all the relevant parameters required for accurate results.

In recent posts, we have covered a variety of plot types used for postprocessing simulation results in COMSOL Multiphysics and the ways that they can help you understand and share your results. Now let’s take a look at some tricks to simplify work in the graphics window.

In recent postprocessing blog posts, we’ve demonstrated different plot types that are typically used for common fluid, mechanical, chemical, and electrical applications. In the next several parts of this series, we’ll introduce a few more unusual plot types that are specific to unique applications and discuss some other tools that you can use to change the feel of your visualization. Here, we highlight polar, far-field, and particle tracing plots.

In a previous blog entry, we shared a postprocessing technique for creating an animation by combining parallel slices in a 3D steady-state model. Today, we will look at another postprocessing trick: how to evaluate and plot the maximum (or the minimum, average, or integration) value of any variable at various parallel sections along the axial coordinate.

Have you ever run a large parametric sweep overnight, only to discover the next morning that the parametric solver is still not finished? You may wish you could inspect the solutions for the parameters that are already computed while waiting for the last few parameters to converge. The remedy to this problem is to use a batch sweep, which automatically saves the parametric solutions that were already computed on a file that you can open for visualization and postprocessing purposes.

Component coupling operators are a useful set of tools included in COMSOL Multiphysics. They can be used to derive numerical values, create new coordinate systems, and link different components in the same model. In this blog post, we will explore yet another possibility: Using General Extrusion, one of the component coupling operators, to extract local solution data and postprocess effectively.

When simulating acoustic waves, vibrating mechanical hardware, or fluid in a channel — just to name a few applications — you may be interested in visualizing the movement or shape change in a device. Postprocessing and visualization can help enhance your understanding of simulation results, and using plots to illustrate physical motion allows you to put everything into perspective. Deformations are a great way to accomplish this.

Last month, we saw examples of contour plots (and their 3D counterparts, isosurfaces) that were created to show the stress in a pulley and the acoustic frequency in a loudspeaker. In this installment of the postprocessing series, we’ll explore the use of streamlines to visually describe fluid flow.

In the previous installment of the postprocessing series, we showcased techniques for visualizing results on cross-sectional slices. Now, we’ll discuss how contour and isosurface plots can be used to show quantities on a series of lines or surfaces. Though they’re usable in many applications (from heat transfer to acoustics), we’ll specifically look at how they can show mechanical stress in a driving pulley and sound pressure levels in a loudspeaker.