INDUSTRY

Stanford University has purchased a site license for FEMLAB, the intuitive software developed by COMSOL, Inc. for generalized multiphysics modeling. Typically Stanford researchers buy programs for scientific simulation directly from niche software companies, one license at a time. With the new FEMLAB site license, the university now owns a bank of simulation licenses covering 40 concurrent users. Stanford’s Information Technology Systems and Services (SITSS) group arranged the purchase and will distribute FEMLAB licenses to the academic community. “This software will enhance the interdisciplinary nature of the programs at our university,” says Pat Box, head of SITSS. Computer simulations help researchers to refine knowledge of physical systems and make predictions about their behavior under different conditions. Behind each simulation is a conceptual model – a collection of ideas about which physical processes are important in a system, where the processes operate, and how they link together. When equations are matched to the processes in the conceptual model, a mathematical model of the system emerges. After the model is translated into computing language, it is solved by computer simulation. Understanding is deepened even further, because the researcher must iteratively refine both the conceptual and mathematical models until simulation results match data collected on the physical system. Dr. Tapan Mukerji of the Geophysics Department teaches a university-wide numerical modeling course at Stanford. Dr. Mukerji explains, “FEMLAB lets researchers and students apply state-of-the-art finite element tools for practical problem solving, allowing them to focus on the science rather than on developing and debugging code.” Translating a research model into computer code can be a time-consuming, pain-staking process, often the prerogative of scattered pioneers examining highly specific research questions. FEMLAB, however, makes computer simulation of even intricate systems accessible to the broad academic community – it automatically translates a research model into computer code and solves it and also is intuitive to use. “Because it is easy to get started (simulating with FEMLAB),” adds Mukerji, “it is also very good for teaching in class.” Among a core of enthusiastic FEMLAB users who pressed for the site license at Stanford is Prof. Juan Santiago of the Microfluidics Laboratory. The Santiago group investigates microfabricated bioanalytical systems, micro-scale thermal systems, and micro-propulsion devices. A member of the group, Dave Hertzog uses FEMLAB to design and characterize microfluidic devices. "It (FEMLAB) has provided me with a quick and easy-to-use design tool that allows me to play around with channel geometries, layouts, and operating conditions (flowrates, viscosities, and diffusion coefficients, to name a few) and see the effect on device performance... FEMLAB has been a huge benefit in time savings and has allowed me to understand the subtle effects that all the physical parameters of my experiments have on my mixer's peformance". “We expect to see FEMLAB used in many disciplines ranging from numerical experiments to advanced research,” says Pat Box. Already, FEMLAB is being used in many of the Stanford research groups and classrooms. Aside from the Santiago group, for example, Dr. Mukerji will use FEMLAB to model poroelasticity with coupled elastic deformation, fluid flow, and wave propagation. Prof. Dave Lauben of the Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory is using FEMLAB in research to find gravitons in space. In the Martin Fejer Group of Applied Physics, photonic waveguide research is being conducted with FEMLAB by Dr. Xiuping Xie. Other departments using FEMLAB now include Physics, Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, and Civil and Environmental Engineering. Given this wide range of early enthusiasm for FEMLAB, Pat Box concludes, “This software will enhance the interdisciplinary nature of the programs at our university.” “By being the first US educational institution to purchase a site license for FEMLAB, Stanford has recognized the value of this software not only for students but also for researchers working on the most leading-edge sophisticated projects,” comments Svante Littmarck, president of COMSOL, Inc. “Because we developed FEMLAB in Sweden and continue to do most of our development there, it’s no surprise that all of the leading Swedish technical universities have site licenses; among them are KTH / Royal Institute of Technology, Linköping University and Chalmers University. With this new site license at Stanford, we are gratified to see that leading international scientific and research communities appreciate the true power and value that our software offers.”