Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2023 - Comsol-18A

DEMOCRATIZING SIMULATION
FIGURE 3 2D boundary layer
meshing of a wall model.
Heidelberg explained their goals, we saw
a great opportunity to expand HETT's
usefulness, " says Daniel Ericsson, CEO at
Deflexional. HETT22
of the program to be developed using
the Application Builder in the COMSOL
Multiphysics software and compiled
using COMSOL Compiler.
" With HETT22
, one of our goals was
to be as user-friendly as possible, " says
Fredvik. " We have also added new
features that enable our customers to
consider real-world conditions in more
detail. "
A brief walkthrough of a hypothetical
concrete casting project demonstrates HETT22
FIGURE 4 Forecasted weather
conditions can be selected from a dropdown
menu, or the user can specify a
location with longitude and latitude.
's expanded
capabilities (Figure 2). The app user starts by selecting from
a list of typical cases representing different construction
scenarios and then defines the casting geometry parameters,
material mix, strength class of concrete, time frame, and
expected weather conditions. The model accounts for how the
physical surroundings of a casting may affect its behavior.
" In a situation where a new concrete form is cast on an
existing slab, the connection between new and old castings
is very critical, " says Fredvik. " HETT22
gives us the ability to
analyze what is happening around that joint. " Other relevant
physical attributes that may affect the temperature and
strength development of concrete, such as the presence of
heating cables or heating/cooling pipes inside a casting, can be
incorporated into the model. The geometry of the model and
its mesh is shown in Figure 3.
After defining the formwork and geometry, the user can
integrate site-specific weather forecasts for the planned casting
(Figure 4). Forecasts for the entire world can be automatically
downloaded and transformed into appropriate boundary
18a COMSOL NEWS
conditions for the model.
" Along with selecting a
forecast in advance, we can
also provide HETT22
with in situ
recorded temperatures during
the curing period and then
make adjustments if measured
conditions are significantly
different from what was
expected, " Fredvik says.
Time constraints and
desired strength are key
influences on a user's choice
of materials. " In this example,
the strength requirement is
set to 15 MPa before we can
remove the formwork, " says
Westerholm, " so we choose
a concrete with appropriate
strength development from
the preinstalled library.
A user can also choose
supplementary cementitious
materials to be mixed
with the concrete. These
materials may include fly ash,
granulated blast furnace slag,
and silica fume, " he explains.
These materials are
by-products from other
industries, such as energy
production and the processing
of iron and ferrosilicon.
The use of supplementary
materials in cement or as
additives to concrete helps
lower the overall carbon
footprint of concrete
construction. " Reducing CO2
emissions is a focus of the
concrete industry worldwide, "
says Westerholm. " But these
is the first generation
Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2023

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