You are viewing the documentation for an older COMSOL version. The latest version is available here.
How the CFD Module Helps Improve Your Modeling
The CFD Module is an optional package that extends the COMSOL Multiphysics modeling environment with customized physics interfaces and functionality optimized for the analysis of all types of fluid flow. It is developed for a wide variety of users including researchers, developers, teachers, and students. It is not just a tool for CFD experts; it can be used by all engineers and scientists who work with systems in which momentum transport through fluid flow is an important part of a process or application.
The module uses the latest research possible to simulate fluid flow and it provides the most user-friendly simulation environment for CFD applications. The solvers and meshes are optimized for fluid-flow applications and have built-in robust stabilization methods.
The readily available coupling of heat and mass transport to fluid flow enables modeling of a wide range of industrial applications such as heat exchangers, turbines, separation units, and ventilation systems.
Ready-to-use interfaces enable you to model laminar and turbulent single- or multiphase flow. Functionality to treat coupled free and porous media flow, stirred vessels, and fluid structure interaction is also included.
Together with COMSOL Multiphysics and its other optional packages, the CFD Module takes flow simulations to a new level, allowing for arbitrary coupling to physics interfaces describing other physical phenomena, such as structural mechanics, electromagnetics, or even user-defined transport equations. This allows for unparalleled modeling capabilities for multiphysics applications involving fluid flow.
Like all COMSOL modules, the interfaces described in this guide include all the steps available for the modeling process, which are described in detail in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual:
•
Definitions of parameters and component variables
•
Creating, importing and manipulating the geometry
•
Specifying the materials to include in the component
•
Defining the physics of the fluid flow in domains and on boundaries, and coupling it to other physics
•
Set up an appropriate mesh for the modeling domain with consideration given to the fluid-flow system’s behavior
•
Solving the equations that describe a system for stationary or dynamic behavior, or as a parametric or optimization study
•
Collecting and analyzing results to present for further use in other analyses.
Once a model is defined, you can go back and make changes in all of the branches listed, while maintaining consistency in the other definitions throughout. You can restart the solver, for example, using the existing solution as an initial guess or even alter the geometry, while the equations and boundary conditions are kept consistent through the associative geometry feature.