COMSOL Blog

FEM vs FVM

• Share this page
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • Stumbleupon
  • More services...

News | Posted on January 31st, 2012 by Phil Kinnane

An interesting discussion has been going on in the COMSOL Discussion Forum. What is the difference between the Finite Element Method (FEM) and the Finite Volume Method (FVM)?

Basically (and with many caveats), FEM provides more degrees of freedom and therefore accuracy; but is more memory-intensive. Yet, with the advances of computing power these days, this isn’t much of a problem and FEM is being used more and more, even in CFD. FEM is far more suited to multiphysics modeling.

All three of the Discussion Forum’s Moderators were involved and it was a great comparative effort from the “Fluid Guy’s” and the “Structural Guy’s” point of view. The “Electrical Guy” suggested the question go to support, as they may produce an interesting answer too – but I think that this discussion’s interest level could not be topped.

Check it out and join the discussion.

Want to read the follow-up blog post to this topic? Find it here: FEM vs FVM on the Web.

Login to Comment