COMSOL Releases Multiphysics Version 5.6 with Four New Products and Valuable New Features in the Acoustics Module

As anticipated, COMSOL unveiled its Multiphysics Version 5.6 Software Suite introducing faster and more memory lean solvers, efficient CAD assembly handling, clip planes, layout templates for building apps, and four new products: Fuel Cell & Electrolyzer Module, LiveLink for Simulink, Polymer Flow Module, and Liquid & Gas Properties Module. Important news in the Acoustics Module include a new time explicit Nonlinear Acoustics interface that uses the dG-FEM technology, a new feature to model Nonlinear Thermoviscous Acoustics, mechanical Port boundary conditions for elastic waves, and much more.

Ported enclosures are known to extend the low-frequency output of loudspeakers by exploiting the Helmholtz resonator effect produced by the compliance of the air inside the enclosure and inertance of the air in the port. This article looks at the problem of port nonlinearity to determine the correct port size, and the acoustic impedance of the port under high air velocity. This article was originally published in audioXpress, September 2001.