Construction and simulation - how can the harmonious interplay of an optimal development process by CAD developers and simulation experts in the company be achieved? In order to shorten development times, the results of simulation calculations must be available in early development phases, ie already in the design phase.

Approaches have existed for a long time, but have so far rarely been used. Either the complexity of the software was too great, the numerical experience of the users (CAD designers) was not sufficient, the acceptance of the software was too low or there was a lack of trust in the generated simulation results.

This changes with the increasingly improved integration of calculation methods, the development of interfaces between CAD and CFD, the direct linking of the CFD to the CAD geometry and the easier usability of tools for flow calculation (CFD tools). Being able to carry out simple but also more complex flow calculations and optimizations directly from the design environment can enormously expand the design options in advance.

How can you bring together the competencies of simulation experts who are responsible for the calculations and designers who know what changes to the product are possible in detail? Can design-related simulation and optimization processes help to reduce product development times and increase product quality in order to obtain a decisive competitive advantage?

Resource Abstract

Next generation vehicles require lighter and better‐performing designs. Given a structural problem, the challenge engineers face is to determine where and how to distribute the material to optimize the topology. Finite element analysis (FEA) is a commonly used tool; however, FEA can only provide hints on where the engineer should remove material. The actual process of carefully removing material can be arduous and error prone. There is no guarantee that the final design generated through this trial‐and‐error process is even close to optimal. Topology optimization is a powerful automated process for performance‐constrained weight reduction. It relies heavily on FEA, but it automates the process of material removal, resulting in a highly optimized design. Topology optimization, one of the tools in generative design, provides rapid solutions to design problems, shaving weeks off product development cycles. There are several topology optimization methods and software implementations, but all of them rely on FEA and optimization techniques. However, they differ on the specific FEA method, the optimization technique, the number of design iterations required, ease‐of‐use, constraint handling, multi‐load and multi‐physics capabilities, etc.



Further, there is a lot of excitement today in additive manufacturing; one can fabricate parts in virtually any shape. This offers several advantages over traditional manufacturing and has the potential to revolutionize the way things are manufactured. Topology optimization directly caters to 3D printing because the output from topology optimization is typically an STL file, that can be directly 3D printed, and for most 3D printing processes (especially, metal 3D printing), material reduction is critical. Through topology optimization, one can dramatically reduce the amount of material used in a design.



No technology is perfect, and not all designs are feasible; therefore, strength/weakness analysis is necessary to maximize the utility of generative design. Strength and weaknesses information can be collated into a Pareto frontier; the boundary of feasible and infeasible designs, and exploring the Pareto frontier allows engineers to understand the trade-offs and maintain a digital thread that is quantitatively richer in information, managing requirements to design and validated parts as a simulation lifecycle management.



Finally making the tools easy to use allows design engineers to create the digital thread quickly and efficiently. This is the critical step towards democratizing simulation analysis, and thus providing generative design when it matters most!