COMSOL

COMSOL Multiphysics (formerly FEMLAB) is a finite element analysis and solver software package for various physics and engineering applications, especially coupled phenomena, or multiphysics. owned and supported by COMSOL, Inc.

Availability and Restrictions

Versions

COMSOL is available on the Owens clusters. The versions currently available at OSC are:

Version Owens
52a X
53a X
5.4 X
5.5 X*
6.0 X
6.2 X
* Current default version

You can use module spider comsol  to view available modules for a given machine. Feel free to contact OSC Help if you need other versions for your work.

Access for Academic Users

COMSOL is for academic use, available only to the Ohio State University users. OSC does not provide COMSOL licenses for academic use to students and faculty outside of the Ohio State University due to licensing restrictions. If you or your institution have a network COMSOL license server, you may be able to use it on OSC. For connections to your license server from OSC, please read this document. If you need further help, please contact OSC Help.

To use COMSOL you will have to be added to the license server.  Please contact OSC Help to be added.

Access for Commercial Users

Contact OSC Help for getting access to COMSOL if you are a commercial user. 

Publisher/Vendor/Repository and License Type

Comsol Inc., Commercial

Usage

Usage on Owens

Set-up

To load the default version of COMSOL module, use  module load comsol . To select a particular software version, use   module load comsol/version . For example, use  module load comsol/52a  to load COMSOL version 5.2a. 

Batch Usage

When you log into owens.osc.edu you are actually logged into a linux box referred to as the login node. To gain access to the mutiple processors in the computing environment, you must submit your analysis to the batch system for execution. Batch jobs can request mutiple nodes/cores and compute time up to the limits of the OSC systems. Refer to Queues and Reservations and Batch Limit Rules for more info. 

Interactive Batch Session
For an interactive batch session, one can run the following command:
sinteractive -A <project-account> -N 1 -n 28 -t 1:00:00 -L comsolscript@osc:1
which gives you 28 cores ( -N 1 -n 28 ) with 1 hour ( -t 1:00:00 ). You may adjust the numbers per your need.
Non-interactive Batch Job (Serial Run)

Assume that you have had a comsol script file  mycomsol.m  in your working direcory ( $SLURM_SUBMIT_DIR ). Below is the example batch script ( job.txt ) for a serial run: 

#!/bin/bash
#SBATCH --time=1:00:00
#SBATCH --nodes=1 --ntasks-per-node=1
#SBATCH -L comsolscript@osc:1
#SBATCH --account=<project-account>
#
# The following lines set up the COMSOL environment
#
module load comsol
#
# Use TMPDIR for best performance
cp -p mycomsol.m $TMPDIR
cd $TMPDIR
#
# Run COMSOL
#
comsol batch mycomsol
#
# Now, copy data (or move) back once the simulation has completed
#
cp -p * $SLURM_SUBMIT_DIR
Non-interactive Batch Job (Parallel Run for COMSOL 6.0 and Later)

Below is the example batch script for a parallel job using COMSOL 6.0 or later versions:

#!/bin/bash
#SBATCH --time=1:00:00
#SBATCH --nodes=2 --ntasks-per-node=4 --cpus-per-task=7
#SBATCH -L comsolscript@osc:1
#SBATCH --account=<project-account>

module load comsol
echo "--- Copy Input Files to TMPDIR and Change Disk to TMPDIR"
cp input_cluster.mph $TMPDIR
cd $TMPDIR

echo "--- COMSOL run"
comsol batch -mpibootstrap slurm -inputfile input_cluster.mph -outputfile output_cluster.mph
echo "--- Copy files back"
cp output_cluster.mph output_cluster.mph.status ${SLURM_SUBMIT_DIR}
echo "---Job finished at: 'date'"
echo "---------------------------------------------"

Note:

  • Use the "-mpibootstrap slurm" option to take the resource specification from the SBATCH directives, thus eliminating the -nnhost, -nn, and -np options.  For more details see https://www.comsol.com/support/knowledgebase/1001
  • Copy files from your directory to $TMPDIR.
  • Provide the name of the input file and output file.
OLD Non-interactive Batch Job (Parallel Run for COMSOL 4.3 and Later)

As of version 4.3, it is not necessary to start up MPD before launching a COMSOL job. Below is the example batch script ( job.txt ) for a parallel run using COMSOL 4.3 or later versions:

#!/bin/bash
#SBATCH --time=1:00:00
#SBATCH --nodes=2 --ntasks-per-node=28
#SBATCH -L comsolscript@osc:1
#SBATCH --account=<project-account>

module load comsol
echo "--- Copy Input Files to TMPDIR and Change Disk to TMPDIR"
cp input_cluster.mph $TMPDIR
cd $TMPDIR

echo "--- COMSOL run"
comsol -nn 2 batch -mpirsh ssh -inputfile input_cluster.mph -outputfile output_cluster.mph
echo "--- Copy files back"
cp output_cluster.mph output_cluster.mph.status ${SLURM_SUBMIT_DIR}
echo "---Job finished at: 'date'"
echo "---------------------------------------------"

Note:

  • Set nodes to 2 and ppn to 28 ( --nodes=2 --ntasks-per-node=28). You can change the values per your need.
  • Use "-mpirsh ssh" option for multi-node jobs
  • Copy files from your directory to $TMPDIR.
  • Provide the name of the input file and output file.

Avaliable COMSOL modules with OSC's academic license

Note: Last updated 02/05/24

AC/DC Module
Battery Design Module
CAD Import Module
CFD Module
Chemical Reaction Engineering Module
Heat Transfer Module
LiveLink for MATLAB
MEMS Module
Microfluidics Module
Particle Tracing Module
RF Module
Semiconductor Module
Structural Mechanics Module
Subsurface Flow Module

    Further Reading

    Supercomputer: 
    Service: