New and Improved General Functionality in COMSOL Multiphysics
Physical Constants
The built-in physical constants have been updated to use full numerical precision and match the CODATA internationally recommended 2022 values available at physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/index.html.
Material Library Links
You can now add Material Library Link nodes from the Add Materials and Material Browser windows or by choosing Add Material from Library in a Material Link node. A Material Library Link provides a link to a material from a material library, which can easily be updated when material properties change in the material library file. The Material Library Link nodes works just like any other global or local material when added to the model. You can break the link to the material in the material library to add or change its material properties.
Chatbot
The chatbot window functionality is now installed by default on the Windows® version of COMSOL Multiphysics. Clear the Chatbot Components checkbox in the installer if you prefer not to install the feature.
The chatbot functionality has been extended with the following features:
•
You can now use the Chatbot window with any Open AI API-compatible provider.
•
The Chatbot window now supports the new GPT-5 language model when using OpenAI or Azure OpenAI as the provider. Choose between GPT-5 Low, GPT-5 High, GPT-5 mini Low, and GPT 5 mini High, where the Low and High suffixes denote the reasoning effort of the model.
•
More attachment types can be added to the Chatbot window conversations by using the Send to Chatbot option from the context menus within COMSOL Multiphysics. The following attachment types have been added:
-
Snapshot images from the Graphics window
-
The model history as Java code
-
Nodes in the Model Builder as Java code
•
You can also attach image and text files from your file system by clicking the Add File Attachment button in the Chatbot window.
•
The Chatbot window now has built-in tools for searching the COMSOL documentation, improving the accuracy of the advice in its responses.
The Maximum generated tokens preference has been removed.
General Contact Pair
A new General Contact Pair is available to specify a contact interaction between multiple objects. A general contact pair defines boundaries of parts in an assembly that can come into contact under deformation. The pair establishes a mapping between these boundaries by performing a contact search.
Selections
•
The Logical Expression selection features under Definitions support usage of the index attributes as variables. Such index attributes can now be created by the geometry operations Array, Copy, Move, and Rotate.
•
The Adjacent and Explicit selection features under Definitions have new options: Adjacent to inside and Adjacent to outside.
•
When adding selections to other features within COMSOL Multiphysics, a new search bar in the Add dialog makes it possible to filter the list of selections.
Highlight Search Matches
Matches from a search done in the Find and Replace window are now scrolled into view and highlighted (Windows® only) in the Settings window, expanding collapsed sections if necessary. When there are matches inside text areas, the relevant row is selected. On Linux® and macOS, matches are also scrolled into view but might not be highlighted.
The Graphics Context Menu
The content of the context menu in the Graphics window differs depending on the selected node in the Model Builder. The following three new options have been added to the context menu and are available regardless of which node is selected:
•
Copy Image — Copy the current state of the Graphics window as an image to the clipboard. If a 2D geometry or work plane is in sketch mode, Copy Image is replaced by Copy, which copies selected geometric objects.
•
Send to Chatbot — Attach a snapshot image of the Graphics window to the current Chatbot window conversation.
•
Help — Receive context-based help about the available tools and buttons in the Graphics window.
Search Support in the Preference Dialog
A search field has been added to the Preferences dialog to make it easier to find particular preference settings.
Set Parameter Cases in Both Directions
Parameter cases can now be set in both directions; that is, you can now also reset the parameter values in a Parameter Case node to the values in the main Parameters node.
Improved Navigation on the COMSOL Desktop
•
A window switcher, showing all open windows on the desktop, now appears when using Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to navigate between open windows. In the Application Builder, the same keyboard shortcuts let you navigate between the editors.
•
Press Enter in input fields to store the value and update any corresponding features accordingly.
•
Close open windows on the desktop using the middle mouse button (usually the mouse wheel).