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LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS®

Run COMSOL® Simulations with SOLIDWORKS® Designs

The LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS® add-on to COMSOL Multiphysics® delivers connectivity tools between the two programs so you can efficiently integrate simulation into your design workflow. SOLIDWORKS® is a premier CAD solution for 3D design and product data management. When used together with multiphysics simulation, it provides a powerful tool for product design, evaluation, and optimization. Using LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS®, you can leverage the functionality of COMSOL Multiphysics® to better understand how your SOLIDWORKS® design performs in its intended operating environment and accurately evaluate the impact of essentially any physical effect and its interactions.

There are multiple ways to use LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS® to match your workflow, starting with simply running both programs at once, side by side. Alternatively, if a team has a design engineer using SOLIDWORKS® and a simulation engineer using COMSOL Multiphysics®, they can work together using the Offline Synchronization feature.

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The COMSOL Multiphysics UI overlaid on a SOLIDWORKS UI with a bracket model in both Graphics windows.

Features and Functionality in LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS®

The link between SOLIDWORKS® and COMSOL Multiphysics® is flexible for your design workflow and modeling needs.

A close-up view of the Model Builder with the LiveLink for SOLIDWORKS node highlighted and a busbar model in the Graphics window.

Synchronize CAD Geometries in SOLIDWORKS® and COMSOL Multiphysics®

LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS® enables synchronization between your COMSOL® model geometry and the corresponding SOLIDWORKS® CAD file. LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS® ensures that design changes are propagated automatically, eliminating the need to import and export your designs each time they are updated. When synchronizing the geometry between the two programs, material and physics definitions as well as boundary conditions remain associated with their respective CAD entity, even when a design has changed. LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS® also keeps track of the synchronized file's name and path, as well as the configuration and display state, to prevent synchronizing an incorrect document.

The LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS® functionality includes several options for importing the geometry into COMSOL Multiphysics® from SOLIDWORKS®. The length unit can be taken from the CAD document (the default option) or COMSOL®. The objects that you import from SOLIDWORKS® will include solids, surfaces, curves, and points, but you can choose to exclude any of these if they are not applicable to the simulation.

A close-up view of the LiveLink for SOLIDWORKS settings and a pacemaker model in the Graphics window.

Offline Synchronization

Syncing files between the two programs is possible even when the programs are installed on different computers. Using the LiveLink™ add-in inside LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS®, you can save a synchronization file that may contain one or several versions of the geometry. You can then load this synchronization file into a COMSOL Multiphysics® model to compute parametric sweeps. This is especially useful in organizations where the two different software packages are used by different individuals.

In addition to being installed by the COMSOL Multiphysics® installer, the LiveLink™ add-in can be installed with the COMSOL Client installer for running simulation apps. This enables the same process for apps: preparing designs, saving offline synchronization files, and loading the files into simulation apps for analysis.

A close-up view of the LiveLink for SOLIDWORKS settings and a bracket model in the Graphics window.

Synchronize Parameters, Materials, and Selections

The LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS® synchronization capabilities include design parameters, materials, and selections created in SOLIDWORKS®. The COMSOL Multiphysics tab installed into the SOLIDWORKS® user interface provides the tools for setting up the selections on the CAD design and configuring which parameters to synchronize. The user interface in COMSOL Multiphysics® provides an informative settings window to keep track of the names of the synchronized parameters and selections, which then become available for use when setting up the simulation in COMSOL Multiphysics®.

SOLIDWORKS® design parameters can be iteratively accessed and updated via COMSOL Multiphysics®, facilitating design parameter optimization studies and parametric sweeps to evaluate the effects of properties such as the diameter of a hole or thickness of a component in your design. Design parameters that are controlled by relations in the SOLIDWORKS® design can still be accessed in a read-only way and used when setting up a simulation, such as when defining boundary conditions or mesh element size settings.

Selections, which are defined on the CAD design inside SOLIDWORKS®, can greatly reduce the time it takes to set up the simulation, for example, by automatically collecting all domains with the same material properties into one easily accessible selection. Selections also come in handy when you want to make sure that the physics settings remain attached to the correct domains and boundaries as the topology of the geometry changes while running a parametric sweep or optimization study.

Streamline Geometries for Simulation

COMSOL® model geometries created from an imported CAD geometry often require some manipulation to reduce the complexity of the mesh and improve the efficiency of the simulation in COMSOL Multiphysics®. To ensure that geometries can be reliably modified and combined with geometry created in COMSOL Multiphysics® after import, LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS® provides the Parasolid® geometry engine with functionality for geometry simplification, including automatic repair and defeaturing. Its full functionality is detailed on the CAD Import Module page.

Virtual geometry operations are also available with COMSOL Multiphysics® to provide yet another method to prevent fine design details from creating regions with unnecessarily dense meshes. By using this functionality, you create a virtual geometry for meshing where you exclude selected features of the CAD design. A distinct advantage is that the original curvature of the design is maintained, which may improve simulation accuracy for certain applications, such as analyzing stresses in structural contact.

A close-up view of a sliver CAD geometry showing the results of the mesh before and after repairing it.
Geometries brought in from CAD tools can be simplified by removing features that are insignificant to the overall simulation, such as the groove and hole in this example.
A close-up view of a CAD geometry shown in a side-by-side comparison with and without fillets.
A close-up view of a CAD geometry shown in a side-by-side comparison with and without capped faces.
The user interface of a Bike Frame Analyzer app with input fields on the left and the Graphics window on the right.

Simulation Applications

You can combine the capabilities of the Application Builder, built into COMSOL Multiphysics®, with LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS® to create simulation apps that analyze SOLIDWORKS® designs. Your SOLIDWORKS® design teams can then run these apps either as standalone, compiled applications on their desktops or through the COMSOL Server™ application management product. All that is needed to run simulation apps is the COMSOL Client for Windows® that you can download for free and install. This also installs the COMSOL Multiphysics tab in the SOLIDWORKS® user interface, from where you can either launch compiled apps directly or connect to COMSOL Server™ to launch apps from there.

Supported Formats for File Import and Export

Note that not all file formats are supported on all operating systems; for details, see the system requirements. The STL, PLY, and 3MP surface mesh formats are supported by COMSOL Multiphysics® without add-on products.

File Format Extension Version Import Export
ACIS® .sat, .sab, .asat, .asab Up to 2024 1.0 (import),
R4, R7, 2016 1.0 (export)
AutoCAD® .dwg 2.5–2024
AutoCAD® DXF™ .dxf 2.5–2024
IGES .igs, .iges Up to 5.3
Inventor® assemblies .iam 11–2024
Inventor® parts .ipt 6–2024
NX™ .prt Up to 2306
Parasolid® .x_t, .xmt_txt, .x_b, .xmt_bin Up to V36.0
PTC Creo Parametric™ .prt, .asm 1.0–10.0
PTC Pro/ENGINEER® .prt, .asm 16 to Wildfire® 5.0
SOLIDWORKS® .sldprt, .sldasm 98–2024
STEP .step AP203, AP214, AP242 (import),
AP203 (export)

SolidWorks is a registered trademark of Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corp. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For a list of such trademark owners, see the Trademarks page. COMSOL AB and its subsidiaries and products are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or supported by these trademark owners.

Every business and every simulation need is different.

In order to fully evaluate whether or not the COMSOL Multiphysics® software will meet your requirements, you need to contact us. By talking to one of our sales representatives, you will get personalized recommendations and fully documented examples to help you get the most out of your evaluation and guide you to choose the best license option to suit your needs.

Just click on the "Contact COMSOL" button, fill in your contact details and any specific comments or questions, and submit. You will receive a response from a sales representative within one business day.

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