Alternatives to Comsol Multiphysics

Question

This might be a question better suited for the Software Recommendations side of S.E., however I do believe that people who frequent this part of S.E. are more likely to be able to answer this question.

I am looking for a free (not only as in freedom) alternative to Comsol Multiphysics. Here is the tricky bit: I am not simply looking for a modelling and simulation package, of which there are loads, rather I am looking for a free solution that has as similar syntax to Comsol as possible. Maybe there is some package you can run together with Octave? If so, I haven't found it. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[Edit] I would need the software for numerical modelling and simulation. Fluids flowing between various containers, heat conduction, ect. Simulating solutions to various PDE's in short. The main functionality I am looking for the other software to parrot is Comsols Model Wizard.

Hi V.Vocor, and welcome to scicomp! What exactly are your requirements of the software, aside from mimicking Comsol syntax? What do you need it to be able to do? Without more specifics, it's impossible to give any recommendations. — Paul, Dec 17 '14 at 21:40
If you want to simulate the fluid dynamics with free and open tools, OpenFoam is the way to go. — Han Zhengzu, Apr 19 '16 at 01:22
There's also MOOSE, by a group at the Idaho national laboratory. Also, deal II. — Charles, May 19 '16 at 04:28
Maybe this could help: https://www.simscale.com/?utm_source=quora&utm_medium=campaign&utm_campaign=AH Or this post be useful: Is there an open source alternative to COMSOL Multiphysics? — Soheil Paper, May 17 '21 at 12:39

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 18 '14 at 10:28

Not sure if you find the COMSOL Model Wizard somewhere else, maybe other commercial Multi-physics software but not in the open-source community.

I had the same question a couple of years ago and I listed all Finite-element, Multi-physics framework. As you may know there are many of them. The one that I found really useful and close, at least in the way that they represent PDE equation was FeniCS. I even partially implemented the part of the model that I had in COMSOL to see if I can replace COMSOL with it. They have nice Python interface which makes things easier.

score 5 · Answer 2 · 2017-08-28T07:02:16.360

5

Another option if you want to stay with Octave is FEATool Multiphysics which is a Finite Element FEM GUI simulation toolbox that supports both Octave and Matlab (FEATool is free for personal use with a limited grid size). In your case there are tutorials of coupling fluid flow with heat transfer, for example:

https://www.featool.com/doc/quickstart.html#ex_he1

Moreover, FEATool also includes easy to use GUI interfaces for external solvers, including for example FEniCS.

edited Aug 28 '17 at 07:02

answered Apr 19 '17 at 03:39

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People that downvote should leave a small note as to why they did downvote such that the author can improve the answer. – user21 Apr 19 '17 at 07:24

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered May 14 '16 at 13:55

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You might also want to have a look at:

answered May 14 '16 at 13:55

Stefan

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Alternatives to Comsol Multiphysics

3 Answers3