Topology optimization for designing engineering product

摘要

Improved topology optimization for engineering product design is disclosed. An engineering product including a design domain to be optimized is defined. Design domain can be a portion or the entire engineering product. Design objective and optional constraint are defined such that optimization goal is achieved. Additionally, initial configuration of the design domain is represented by a finite element analysis (FEA) mesh. Each element or element group is associated with a design variable. A set of discrete material models is created from the baseline material used for the design domain. The set of discrete material models is configured to cover entire range of the design variable and each discrete material model represents a non-overlapping portion. Each element representing the design domain is associated with an appropriate discrete material model according to the design variable. Structure response is obtained via FEA to evaluate design objective and update design variable.