FEATURE BASED INTERPRETATION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF STRUCTURAL TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION RESULTS
Year: 2015
Editor: Christian Weber, Stephan Husung, Marco CantaMESsa, Gaetano Cascini, Dorian Marjanovic, Serena Graziosi
Author: Stangl, Thomas; Wartzack, Sandro
Series: ICED
Institution: Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg, Germany
Section: Design Methods and Tools - part 2
Page(s): 235-244
ISBN: 978-1-904670-69-8
ISSN: 2220-4334
Abstract
The application of structural topology optimization is a common computer aided method to define the ideal design of a mechanical part. However, the problem remains, that the optimized component in its triangulated surface form cannot directly be used as model in the CAD based product development process. Due to different design aspects (even when using additive layer manufacturing technologies) the result needs to be interpreted and converted into a parametric feature based CAD model. After all, the current standard method is a time consuming, long-winded manual reconstruction. To put this right, this paper presents a semi-automatic approach to support the design engineer. The tool provides a way to interpret and reconstruct three dimensional topology optimization results as a parametric feature based CAD model. This approach automates the manual proceeding in order to generate a high quality solid CAD part. The functionality is demonstrated in a case study by an optimized and reconstructed motorcycle swing arm.
Keywords: Computational Design Synthesis, Computer Aided Design (CAD), Optimisation, Embodiment Design