COMSOL Day: Simulation Apps & Digital Twins
See what is possible with multiphysics modeling
Modeling and simulation is no longer limited to the expertise of a few individuals within an organization. The availability of simulation tools throughout the product or process design workflow — from R&D to the factory floor — allows for a more collaborative and innovative approach to problem-solving. Now, even those without prior modeling knowledge can contribute to the process, leveraging the expertise of modeling experts and advanced techniques like digital twins and surrogate models.
To facilitate this collaboration, the Application Builder in COMSOL Multiphysics® allows modeling experts to create custom apps with user-friendly interfaces that can be used by scientists and engineers without modeling experience. Taking this a step further, COMSOL Compiler™ enables organization-wide use of standalone simulation apps without licensing restrictions.
By using the Application Builder and COMSOL Compiler™ together with the COMSOL Multiphysics® platform's built-in Model Builder and Model Manager tools, engineering organizations can establish an efficient, collaborative, simulation-based environment, supported by the realistic and predictive capabilities of digital twins and surrogate models.
Join us for this COMSOL Day to learn how the Application Builder and COMSOL Compiler™ can revolutionize your organization's approach to simulation, making advanced tools accessible and fostering a culture of collaborative innovation.
Schedule
Physics-based simulation apps can be customized for specific needs and used to democratize access to advanced simulation tools among a broader community of engineers and scientists. With COMSOL Compiler™, you can transform these simulation apps into standalone executable files that can be distributed and run without license restrictions. This functionality enables more project stakeholders from various teams to leverage modeling and simulation, facilitating interactive, real-time decision-making based on accurate results.
New functionality in COMSOL Multiphysics® for creating surrogate models further enhances this capability, enabling lightning-fast simulation apps that provide a highly interactive user experience. Surrogate models also allow simulation apps to be integrated into digital twins, expanding their real-world applications.
Join us in this session to get an overview of this COMSOL Day, throughout which we will explore simulation apps, digital twins, and surrogate models. We will also highlight how customers have saved both time and resources by creating and using compiled simulation apps and digital twins.
Kyle C. Koppenhoefer, PhD, AltaSim Technologies LLC.
Numerical simulations represent a substantial advancement in engineering and science. Research consistently indicates that conducting effective simulations provides significant benefits to companies by enabling their teams to develop new products at reduced costs and deliver them on schedule more frequently. These advantages incentivize companies to increase adoption of simulation by both experts and nonexperts.
Simulation usage among nonexperts, known as "democratization," is a process that enables nonengineers and engineers at all levels to benefit from simulation without requiring extensive education and training to become simulation experts.
One excellent opportunity to democratize simulation is through simulation applications developed by simulation experts to ensure high-quality results. These applications are then made accessible to a broader audience through a user-friendly interface.
AltaSim Technologies has leveraged its expertise in successfully developing and deploying simulation applications for numerous companies and will share their experiences during this talk.
In this session, we will cover the capabilities of the COMSOL Multiphysics® software for developing user-friendly simulation apps and digital twins. We will demonstrate how the Application Builder is used to quickly create simulation apps with custom user interfaces that anyone can use.
The session will also cover the new features in COMSOL Multiphysics® for data-driven surrogate models and timer events, which are essential for creating responsive, interactive digital twins.
Join us to learn how these tools are transforming the use of simulation technology.
Paul Belk, PhD, Boston Scientific
The Application Builder in COMSOL Multiphysics® can be very valuable even to experienced COMSOL® users by providing the ability to coordinate a custom user interface (UI) with custom Java code, especially with the recently added capability to use Application Builder pages from the Model Builder interface.
One example of this capability is the ability to deal with irregularly changing boundary conditions in a time-dependent simulation. In these cases, efficient simulation requires coordination between changes in boundary conditions and time points at which to force simulation evaluation. In addition, the time scale of each change can be coordinated with function-smoothing parameters.
This talk will demonstrate a UI that is based on simple tables for specifying pulses and other characteristics of a time-dependent battery simulation. While the UI is straightforward, the power of the approach is the Java code behind the UI. This code calculates ideal time-dependent simulation parameters and seamlessly integrates them into the overall simulation, while also adjusting output, including the display of results.
Daryl Quam, Donaldson Co., Inc
In the world of engineering and product development, simulation offers efficient and cost-effective solutions. Often, though, its full potential is locked behind complex workflows, specialized expertise, and siloed data. At Donaldson, they saw a different path forward: a way to bridge the gap between expert-driven modeling and enterprise-wide accessibility.
Using COMSOL’s API, App Builder, and Model Manager functionality, Donaldson is changing how simulation is used across their organization. No longer confined to specialists, their simulation deployment strategy is being used to drive faster decision-making, streamline processes, and integrate with their business systems. In this keynote talk, Daryl Quam will highlight how the company built intuitive, application-driven workflows that enabled complex models to be run by engineers, scientists, and even nonspecialists, without compromising accuracy or control.
Scaling simulation also means managing data intelligently, ensuring model traceability, and maintaining consistency across teams. Collaboration and code management are essential when multiple teams contribute to complex simulations. Model Manager has helped with organization and version control of their simulation models and apps, making it easier to share, modify, and track changes within the team. By ensuring consistency and reducing redundant work, it has enabled them to scale their simulation capabilities without losing efficiency or oversight.
Quam will walk through real-world examples of how Donaldson has put these tools to work by cutting time-to-decision, reducing modeling bottlenecks, and transforming simulation from a niche function into a company-wide asset. Whether you are looking to optimize your own workflows or take simulation adoption to the next level, join this talk to see how they are making this happen.
Simulation-data-driven surrogate models in COMSOL Multiphysics® significantly increase computational speed while maintaining the same accuracy within their applicable data ranges as high-fidelity multiphysics models, making them useful for efficiently approximating simulation results.
COMSOL Multiphysics® provides an ideal environment for generating the physics-based training datasets used by surrogate models. These models can be incorporated into simulation apps, leading to a more interactive user experience and encouraging broader use of simulation within organizations.
Join us in this session to learn more about creating surrogate models. We will present techniques for effective data generation using design-of-experiments methods and walk through the subsequent steps to train a surrogate model. We will also demonstrate how to incorporate surrogate models into simulations apps.
Tech Lunches are informal sessions where you can interact with COMSOL staff and other attendees. You will be able to discuss any modeling-related topic that you like and have the opportunity to ask COMSOL technology product managers and applications engineers your questions. Join us!
Daniel Smith
Real-time inverse modeling of complex systems poses significant challenges, particularly when relying on traditional finite element analysis (FEA) tools like the COMSOL Multiphysics® software. These methods, while powerful, often struggle to deliver solutions at the speed required for dynamic applications due to their computational intensity. Recent advances in deep neural networks (DNNs) and surrogate modeling offer a promising reformulation of such inverse problems, enabling rapid predictions when adequately trained, while maintaining acceptable accuracy.
This approach unlocks a variety of practical applications, such as optimizing system performance, enhancing design workflows, and enabling real-time decision-making in engineering contexts. By integrating these techniques with high-fidelity simulations, new possibilities emerge for addressing time-sensitive challenges.
In this talk, Daniel Smith will explore how COMSOL Multiphysics® excels in modeling high-frequency electromagnetic systems, leveraging its capabilities to simulate intricate phenomena in the GHz range. We will discuss how combining these strengths with surrogate models and neural networks can push the boundaries of real-time inverse problem-solving, offering a versatile framework for innovation across industries.
Ying Sun, Littelfuse
Ready-to-use fuse simulation apps were developed with specialized purposes and intuitive user interfaces, enabling the app user to focus on the input parameters and computational results that matter to them, without requiring foreknowledge of the complex underlying model. The power of simulation can then be shared with colleagues throughout the organization by creating and deploying standalone applications.
In this keynote talk, Dr. Sun will discuss how the fuse product app user can change inputs such as the current level or profile, ambient temperature, wire size, and altitude to get useful outputs like maximum steady-state temperature, temperature change as a function of the drive cycle, and melting time approximations. The results of the fuse product applications enable field application engineers to provide quick answers to customers under specific user conditions. Fuse design tools applications are developed for fuse design engineers to quickly evaluate the performance of the element concepts before prototyping and testing. Surrogate models were used to accelerate model evaluation, providing app users with a more interactive and responsive experience. This not only simplifies the integration of simulation across an organization but also enables the development of interactive digital twins in a wider range of physics areas.
Register for COMSOL Day: Simulation Apps & Digital Twins
To register for the event, please create a new account or log into your existing account. You will need a COMSOL Access account to attend COMSOL Day: Simulation Apps & Digital Twins.
For registration questions or more information contact info@comsol.com.
COMSOL Day Details
May 1, 2025 | 11:00 a.m. EDT (UTC-04:00)
Invited Speakers
Kyle Koppenhoefer, founder of AltaSim Technologies, has more than 35 years of experience in computational analysis and engineering. He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering science and mechanics from Virginia Tech and a master’s and doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Illinois. These degrees equipped him with critical theoretical and analytical skills, while his roles at the Department of Defense and Edison Welding Institute (EWI) honed his technical abilities. In 2002, he founded AltaSim Technologies, leveraging his expertise in complex engineering problems. Dr. Koppenhoefer’s leadership and innovative solutions have driven the success of AltaSim to where it is today — a leader in improving product design and manufacturing processes across multiple industries, including medical devices and electronics.
Paul Belk earned a PhD in medical physics from the Harvard–MIT Program of Health Sciences and Technology and has been working in medical devices for several decades. He has used simulation in applications ranging from cardiac pacing to heat transfer and fluid dynamics in the circulatory system. He is currently using COMSOL® in the design and analysis of lithium primary batteries for implantable medical devices.
Dr. Sun is the senior manager of New Product Development and Simulation, Global R&D, in the Electronics Business Unit (EBU) at Littelfuse. Her team develops physics-based predictive models and applications for fuse designs. Dr. Sun is well versed in multiphysics modeling with COMSOL, including electromagnetic, mechanical, and thermal modeling as well as testing, design verification, and analysis. She is passionate about new technology development and innovation. Dr. Sun holds a PhD in materials science from the University of Connecticut and an MSc and BSc in electrical engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University. Prior to joining Littelfuse, Sun was a project engineer in the Innovation and Breakthrough department at S&C Electric Company. She is a senior member of IEEE and actively participates in IEEE conferences and workgroups.
Daniel Smith is the former director of modeling and simulation at Emphysys. With 16 years of experience in finite element analysis (FEA), software development, mathematics, and physics, he supports engineering teams with their understanding of client product physics. Smith previously led North American development at COMSOL for 12 years, overseeing modules like MEMS and Ray Optics, and worked at MKS Instruments on fluid and plasma systems. He holds 13 patents and dual MSc degrees in applied mathematics from the University of St Andrews and numerical computing from the University of Manchester.
Daryl L. Quam is a technical leader in simulation, modeling, and data engineering, with a passion for building practical, impactful solutions that improve engineering workflows and technical decision-making. With deep experience in CFD, high-performance computing, and simulation automation, he has helped transform complex analysis into more accessible and efficient digital tools for engineers across his company.
As manager of Data and Modeling Science at Donaldson Co., Inc., Quam leads the development of filtration simulation platforms, bringing together commercial software and custom coding solutions to improve accuracy and usability. He has driven enterprise-wide adoption of digital simulation workflows, expanded multiphase and multiscale modeling capabilities, and helped cut costs and turnaround times for critical engineering analyses. His focus on methods development, data integration, and simulation infrastructure ensures that advanced modeling tools are not just powerful — but practical and scalable.
Quam also serves as a mentor and coach, helping teams navigate adoption of digital methods, automation, and cross-functional collaboration. He enjoys making advanced simulation more approachable and empowering engineers to get the most out of their tools. Quam is driven by innovation with impact — developing scalable digital solutions, fostering technical growth, and sharing knowledge to help the next generation of engineers push boundaries and solve real-world problems.