Seeing the Future Before You Build It: The Strategic Power of Multiphysics Simulation

Engineering design is undergoing a structural shift in how decisions are made.

Traditionally, engineers relied on iterative prototyping, physical testing, and empirical refinement to converge on a final design. While effective, this process is often time-consuming, expensive, and limited by what can be physically tested.

Today, multiphysics simulation is changing this foundation. Engineers can now evaluate system behavior before a prototype exists, shifting decision-making earlier in the design process and grounding it in predictive modeling rather than physical iteration.

This is especially important in complex systems where individual design choices can influence overall performance in non-obvious ways.

To understand how this shift is unfolding in practice, we spoke with Dr. Árpád Forberger, SciEngineer’s multiphysics simulation and modeling expert. With more than a decade of experience in both industrial engineering and academic teaching, he combines hands-on application of simulation methods with a strong foundation in engineering principles.

His experience includes solving complex engineering challenges for companies such as Audi Hungaria, KONČAR, and HARMAN International, among others—helping teams move from costly trial-and-error toward confident, simulation-driven decision-making from the earliest stages of design.

 

Árpád, you’ve spent over 10 years at SciEngineer building deep expertise in multiphysics simulation and modeling. I’m sure you could dive into technical details, but how would you describe COMSOL Multiphysics to someone who isn’t an engineer?

I’d probably start with a simple analogy. Designing complex products today without simulation is like running a marathon barefoot. You can do it, but you increase risk, slow yourself down, and suffer unnecessary pain while competitors are better equipped to cross the finish line.

COMSOL Multiphysics is that engineered competitive advantage. In business terms, it’s a decision-making platform masquerading as engineering software. It allows companies to build a virtual version of their product and test real-world behavior before committing materials, manufacturing capacity, or capital.

It’s more than modeling; it’s about removing uncertainty, which, as we all know, is expensive in business.

 

Árpád being interviewed at the Budapest office

 

Many engineering tools still focus on single physics domains. From what you’ve seen over the years, why is a multiphysics approach becoming essential now?

Because the products we’re building today simply don’t behave in isolated domains anymore. Companies are facing a real paradox: systems are getting more complex, but development timelines are shrinking. Electronics are smaller and more powerful. Energy systems must be efficient and sustainable. Regulations are stricter, and customer expectations are higher. Given all of those changes, everything has to be delivered faster.

In that environment, analyzing one physical effect at a time just isn’t enough. Heat affects structures. Electromagnetics generate heat. Fluids influence temperature. In short, everything interacts. If you treat those effects separately, you risk missing the bigger picture. That’s why multiphysics isn’t just a “nice-to-have” anymore; it’s becoming the only realistic way to keep up. The traditional trial-and-error approach simply can’t keep pace with the speed of modern development.

 

Do you mean that focusing on just one aspect of a product isn’t enough?

Exactly. Modern systems are interconnected. It’s like trying to understand a Jenga® tower by studying a single block. One piece alone does nothing. The tower only stands when every block supports the others. The real world is interconnected, and simulation should be, too. 

 

Pharmaceutical consulting at the PHARM Connect Congress

 

Some still believe simulation is “just a tool.” What’s the biggest misconception you encounter?

The biggest misconception is that simulation is optional or just a “nice visualization tool.” In reality, institutions like CERN rely on it where physical testing alone isn’t feasible, and many everyday products are shaped by simulation long before production. It doesn’t replace reality; it helps companies develop an understanding of a concept model before mistakes become costly, thus avoiding expensive redesigns and missed opportunities.

 

How does simulation prevent costly mistakes in practice? What does that mean ultimately in terms of ROI for companies?

The initial ROI is easy to see: fewer prototypes and faster design iterations. But the real payoff comes from understanding how a product behaves under different conditions. Clients tell us, “The biggest savings wasn’t the prototypes we eliminated — it was the mistakes we never made.”

Take KONČAR, a leading transformer manufacturer. Their high-performance system had strict efficiency and noise limits. Transformers are tricky because their electromagnetic forces, heat, and structural vibration all interact. Using COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate magnetics, structural mechanics, and acoustics, they caught and fixed issues digitally before a single prototype existed. This reduced noise, sped up development, and avoided costly redesigns. And a typical way we help is by looking at everything together, instead of just treating individual parts separately, using our multiphysics expertise to handle the whole project holistically. [Read a detailed user story on this at the end of this interview.]

 

And what about companies that don’t have in-house expertise in simulation software?

That’s actually quite common, especially when products need to be delivered on tight timelines and must comply with strict customer or regulatory requirements. In these cases, we’re fully prepared to step in and handle the entire project as a complete service. From start to finish, we can deliver the solution so the company benefits from simulation without needing internal experts.

 

Presenting at the SciEngineering Conference

 

There’s a lot of buzz around multiphysics, but who’s actually benefiting from it, and in what industries?

Multiphysics is not industry specific; it’s complexity specific. Wherever multiple physical effects interact, simulation delivers real value. Take energy systems, for example, from power grids to renewables and geothermal plants, where thermal, structural, fluid, and electromagnetic phenomena all come together. Electronics and medical devices rely on them to manage heat, maintain precision, and prevent failures. Then there are areas like acoustics, food processing, and pharmaceuticals, where simulation helps control vibrations, ensure safe mixing, and model heat transfer in sensitive materials.

The common thread in all of these cases is that multiphysics transforms complex, interdependent phenomena into actionable insight. It lets companies experiment virtually, make informed decisions, and ultimately innovate faster, safer, and smarter.

 

It sounds like simulation is mainly used by engineering teams. Is there a way for the rest of the organization to benefit from it as well?

Definitely. With the right tools, simulation can extend beyond engineering. Models can be turned into easy-to-use apps for anyone in the organization. Sales can demonstrate performance live, manufacturing can validate tolerances virtually, and management can make informed decisions. The results are insights everyone can use.

 

Presenting advanced welding simulations and insights with COMSOL Multiphysics

 

If a company is comparing tools, what differentiates COMSOL strategically?

Three things stand out.

Firstly, it offers true multiphysics in a single environment. With unified geometry, mesh, and solver setup, consistency is ensured throughout the simulation. This is unlike many other tools that necessitate separate programs for each physical domain involved, which can lead to accuracy loss or data transfer errors. Furthermore, computing power limitations are not a concern, and version control is a fundamental feature.

Second, it encompasses the full workflow, from building the model to sharing it as an app. It enables you to develop an idea all the way from a concept to deployment in the field, without switching between multiple platforms or formats.

Third, it scales securely, which matters a lot if you’re working with sensitive designs or proprietary technology. Many market alternatives require cloud access or separate infrastructure, but COMSOL lets you run it locally and still scale.

The best part is that COMSOL conforms to your simulation needs, not the other way around.

 

NAFEMS Eastern Europe Conference 2026

 

If we look 10 years into the future, what will simulation look like compared to today?

Automation will increase, workflows will become smarter, and high-performance computing and cloud infrastructure will continue to expand. At the same time, GPU computing power is growing rapidly. Thus, modern multiphysics tools will be able to bring multi-GPU power to any simulation. In some cases, this raw computational power may rival the role AI is expected to play in finite element analysis.

However, the most significant shift will not be technical, but cultural. Simulation is moving out of isolated R&D environments and becoming embedded in everyday engineering decisions across the entire product lifecycle, from early concept development to digital twin-driven operations. Organizations that adopt this shift early will innovate faster, reduce risk, and improve decision quality, while those that delay will struggle to keep pace.

 

To wrap things up, given all of these pressures — complexity, regulations, and margins — what’s your expert opinion? What should leaders focus on?

Across industries, the direction of change is clear: systems are becoming more complex, regulatory requirements are tightening, and competitive pressure continues to increase.

In this context, leaders are increasingly faced with a fundamental choice—whether to rely on physical iteration and discover issues late in the process, or to use simulation to identify and resolve them before they materialize.

This is where the real value of multiphysics simulation emerges. It is not only a technical capability, but a shift in how uncertainty is managed—turning it into actionable insight earlier in the design process.

Organizations that adopt this mindset move from reactive problem-solving toward predictive, confidence-driven innovation. That shift is not incremental; it is foundational.

 

Learn more

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