Actran 2020 Suite Introduces New Acoustic Simulation for Design Processes

Free Field Technologies, the Belgium arm of MSC Software that is now part of Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, a global engineering software company, announced the Actran 2020 design and simulation software suite comprising new acoustic, vibro-acoustic and aero-acoustic technologies that enable manufacturers to build more accurate noise prediction models of their designs, with optimizations into their processes.

COMSOL, the multiphysics modeling, simulation, and application design and deployment software company, announced the latest version of its COMSOL Multiphysics software. COMSOL Multiphysics version 5.5 introduces powerful geometry modeling tools, faster solvers, and two new products: the Metal Processing Module and the Porous Media Flow Module. Most of the new features and tools benefit directly all developers working with the COMSOL Acoustics module.

From March to August 2014, in its Sound Control column dedicated to acoustics, Richard Honeycutt reviewed and wrote a series of articles on the evolution of predictive acoustics and acoustical modeling software, including a review of some of the available tools. This second article in the series focused on one of those available tools: Bose Modeler. This article was originally published in audioXpress, April 2014.

COMSOL announced the latest version of COMSOL Multiphysics Version 5.4, which in addition to two new products provides performance improvements and additional modeling tools. The latest version of COMSOL Multiphysics features COMSOL Compiler, giving specialists the freedom to distribute their simulation applications through executable files, and the Composite Materials Module for layered structures analysis. For acoustics modeling applications, the update introduces acoustic ports and nonlinear acoustics Westervelt model.

COMSOL announced the deadline to submit presentation abstracts for the COMSOL Conference 2018. Users of simulation and analysis software are invited to submit abstracts by July 20, 2018 for an opportunity to present their work at this year's event. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to the multiphysics simulation community and connect with likeminded CAE specialists. The COMSOL Conference 2018 Boston will be held October 3-5, 2018 at the Boston Marriott Newton hotel.

As previewed back in October 2017, COMSOL now made available the latest release of its COMSOL Multiphysics and COMSOL Server software products. Version 5.3a provides simulation specialists with cutting-edge modeling tools and increased solver performance. Featuring new methods, material models and simulations, the new software includes a hybrid boundary element-finite element (BEM-FEM) method for acoustics and acoustic-structure interaction, among many valuable new tools.

Simulation software for speaker design has been around since the 1970s. With the introduction of the IBM PC and DOS operating system in the early 1980s, Thiele-Small (T-S) simulation software for enclosure design became a must-have for speaker system designers. For the most sophisticated design efforts, there are now magnetic circuit design software and finite element analysis (FEA) cone and thermal prediction simulation software. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, March 2017.

COMSOL announced the latest release of the COMSOL Multiphysics and COMSOL Server simulation software. Version 5.3 provides notable performance improvements and powerful app design and deployment capabilities with new modeling and development tools, solvers, and user-driven features. Those using the Acoustics Module will benefit from new functionality that greatly improves time-domain simulations of acoustics phenomena and facilitates solving large acoustics-based models.

Attendees at the COMSOL Conference 2016, were introduced to the latest developments for multiphysics modeling, simulation, app design and deployment, with COMSOL software version 5.2a (announced June 2016), and the latest updates of COMSOL Multiphysics software, COMSOL Server, and COMSOL Client. The latest updates feature major performance increases and provide up to a 10x speedup for the handling of large models and mesh creation.

Loudspeaker design is not a trivial exercise, and as a result, high-performance acoustic simulation software is essential to get accurate predictions that help an engineer develop superior products. Demand for simulations at early design stages are increasing because cost and timing constraints make it impossible to prototype and test every design idea and much can be learned from simulation results, which cannot be obtained in the test chamber. Actran, MSC Software Company’s acoustic simulation solution, based on Finite Element Analysis (FEA) technology, provides predictive simulation capabilities to assess the vibro-acoustic performance of audio devices, which include speakers and microphones.