Femlab 3.1 : Adds 64 bit computing support & much more ...

The latest release of the Stockholm, Sweden based Comsol's multiphysics
modeling software, Femlab 3.1 (read our introduction to Femlab ) adds
access to 64 bit computing platforms, such as Linux on AMD64 and the
Itanium, or HP-UX and Solaris system.

It also offers a new solver technology. The multi-grid preconditioner
optimizes routines which are otherwise computationally intensive and
reduces solution times and memory consumption.

These two significant additions enables Femlab to handle problems even
with millions of degrees of freedom. Their website gives example of a
problem of computing the electric field in a radar reflector which can have
more than 20 million degrees of freedom to take care.

Another feature they introduce in this version is the structured meshing
technique which allows users to select from quadrilateral, hexahedral and
prism elements for the optimal discretization of a given geometrical
structure. With innovative coupling of field variables, the simulation of
multiple structures has also become much easier. These mesh options
improve both the solution's accuracy and the execution speed.