applications
interpretation of the topology optimisation. He explained that Evolve, from Altair’s Solid Tinking package now offers this. Tanks to Evolve you can put this on top of the optimisation and generate a CAD file very efficiently.’ Yancey explained that Altair found that
many of Optistruct’s users who were primarily concerned with topology optimisation oſten came from a design background rather than an engineering one, which is why Altair decided to make the core OptiStruct functionality available through Inspire, the concept design solution within Solid Tinking. Yancey said: ‘Altair made the decision several
years ago to create a product that would have all of the power of OptiStruct for structural optimisation, but in a framework that would be very appealing to the design engineer or the industrial designer. Tose are the folks that are coming up with the initial design and so we wanted to put a tool in their hands to access the technology, and then use an interface that is more familiar to them.’ Again this provides a higher level of usability
NASA Langley Research Centre: Hybrid Wing Body model wind tunnel testing Increasingly usability is a primary concern of
many soſtware providers but sometimes it is the convergence of two different areas of technology that provide the ease of use – as is the case with the convergence of topology optimisation and additive manufacturing. Tis technology is now seeing much more use
in industry due to the synergies with additive manufacturing or 3D printing, as it is commonly known. Franck Mouriaux, general manager, structures, at RUAG Space, said: ‘Te advantage of additive manufacturing is that it gives us more freedom for the designer, and allows us to elaborate more complex shapes and this is really well suited for topology optimisation.’ Mouriaux went on to explain that this
combination of additive manufacturing and topology optimisation technology provides much more freedom in manufacturing than conventional machining processes. Dr Robert Yancey, vice president of
aerospace solutions at Altair, highlighted that this convergence of technology is something that Altair has been aware of for some time. He said: ‘We’ve known for years that topology optimisation is an interesting solution for additive manufacturing, which is why we’ve added these manufacturing constraints.’ Yancey explained that it is the design
constraints that allow the soſtware to optimise accurately the geometry of a part, by setting out these conditions and designing algorithms which can make best use of this technology. Altair has
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designed a solution that can be automated, based on a specific pre-determined set of criteria such as loads and the design space. Although the soſtware has been around
for a number of years, it is the use of additive manufacturing that allows the precise geometries recommended by the OptiStruct soſtware to reach its full potential. Mouriaux said: ‘Te problem was realising the
geometry or the shapes which were coming out of this topology optimisation, but now we have this technology [additive manufacturing] which gives
USABILITY IS
A PRIMARY CONCERN OF SOFTWARE PROVIDERS
us the possibility to manufacture and produce, I would say, as close as possible to the optimal geometry.’ Another aspect of Altair soſtware that was
appealing to the team at RUAG Space was the combination of both design and engineering soſtware. Mouriaux said: ‘Topology optimisation gives you information about the loadpath where you need material in order to transfer the load in an optimal way. But this doesn’t give any information about, let’s say, the size and the form of the parts.’ Mouriaux continued: ‘For that you need to add a new layer on top, which is the CAD
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to a large company that may have many different design teams each with their own specific set of skills. As designers early in the project will be more concerned with the shape and design of the parts rather than their performance, they can now make use of this soſtware much earlier in the design phase. Te specific case from RUAG Space focused
on the optimisation of an antenna support arm which could then be manufactured using industrial 3D printing. Te team found that although the development of the part took the same time as the previous design – around four weeks – they were able to improve performance and manufacturing times considerably. Mouriaux said: ‘What we have seen is that now
we can go further in the refinement of the design. To make something that is more effective in terms of mass and performance, in the same timeframe you can get more out of the analysis.’ Te team from RUAG Space used the
optimisation exercise to benchmark the new design and manufacturing procedure against the older model which is why they decided to use aluminium again. Mouriaux said: ‘We could have made the part
in titanium, and I think we could have maybe reached even better performances, but for this study we wanted to be able to benchmark the new part against the original one; that’s why we took exactly the same specification for the design and we stayed with the same materials.’ Te optimisation of existing older structures
provides immediate benefits which in the case of RUAG Space delivered significant gains in both price/performance and also reduced manufacturing time.
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