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Goal of this tutorial

  • Get to know the workflow of consolidating parts

  • Get used to the different geometry tools assisting the Design Space creation

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The program starts and you can directly create your optimisation model

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Step 2: Model generation

You can either create the geometry directly in MSC Apex Generative Design or import already existing files. You can import .xb, .xt, .step, and .sldprt files into the program.

  • First of all, import the existing assembly in which you want to replace one ore more contains the to be consolidated parts (the colours are changed to distinguish the parts better)

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  • In this case there are three parts that are to be consolidated and one part that is to be retained

Create initial Design Space Bounding Box

  • Open the Optimisation Tools and click on the Design Space Tool Tool in the Optimisation Tools

  • Choose the option second method Create Design Space enclosing parts and choose select the three parts you want to consolidate

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  • You can choose the Alignment Type and an Offset Factor in the Advanced Properties. In this case an offset percentage of 5% was chosen to give the optimiser more room to operate.

  • The input is confirmed and the Tool creates a new part with the initial Design Space

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  • The inner surface of the Access Region is defeatured to create one filled volume. To ensure that there is also some free space on the other side, the Push/Pull Tool can be used. Drag the surface 20 mm in the positive y-direction.

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  • For the force input the Clearance Region Tool is used with an offset of 3 mm to ensure that there is enough space around it. Only the faces around the middle of it are chosen, cause the rest is already covered with the acces regions.

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  • Machining Allowances should be applied to every functional surface. Adjacent Faces should be selected at once, to create one coherent Machining Allowance. Therefore, the automatic execution mode can be turned off.

  • Tip: To have an easier access to the Non-Design Spaces choose the picking Filter “Cells” and hide the Design Space Cell so that only the Non-Design Spaces are visible. Simply choose a whole Non-Design Space by drawing a rectangle like shown in the picture below.

  • Now your Assembly chould should look like this

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  • Note: Ensure that all your parts (Including the Design Space and the Access Regions) belong to the same assembly!

GD Configuration Tool

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The GD Configuration Tool is used to create

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the Design Space

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for the optimisation considering all the previously defined geometries. Loads and Boundary Conditions applied to Retained Volumes are also transferred to the optimisation model and can be activated in the Loads and Constraints Property panel for the matching load cases. There are 7 different groups

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to which the geometries can be sorted to:

  • Design Space

  • Non-Design

  • Retained Volumes

  • Excluded Volumes

  • Access Region

  • Clearance Region

  • Machining Allowance

Design Space

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2. Non-DesignsDesign Spaces

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3. Retained Volumes

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4. Excluded Volumes

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5. Access Regions

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6. Cleareance Clearance Regions

Note: The prior defined Clearance Regions are automatically defined after you choose the corresponding Retained and Excluded Volumes

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7. Machining Allowance

Note: The prior defined Machining Allowances are automatically defined after you choose the corresponding Non-DesignsDesign Spaces

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  • Click create Create Configuration and a GD Configuration will be created

  • Click appy Configration and the function will executed every needed boolean operation Apply Configuration and the tool executes all necessary Boolean Operations

  • The final Design Space is created and looks like the picture

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  • You can see which the included parts are part of the GD Configuration when you by double click clicking the GD Configuration in the Model -TreeBrowser

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  • You can To get an overview of the GD Configuration when you right cklick it right click on this and choose edit Edit. A window opens where you can see your detailed settingsthe chosen geometries included in the configuration.

  • You can also change your configuration here and apply it again to create a new Design Space with updated geometrysgeometries

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  • Create the material in the Materials editor and assign it to the Design Spaceand the retained part create a material for the Retained Volume and assign it

  • The specific values needed are the Young's Modulus (70000 MPa), Poisson ratio (0.27) and Density (2.7e-6 kg/mm3)

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In this case four forces and one moment are defined. The first two are applied on the retained part volume and the last three on the Non-Design Space that is connected to the sensor:

Name

Force/Moment/Pressure/Gravity

Direction

Value in N; Nmm

Force - Moment 1

Force on surfaceRetained Volume

Fy; Fz

-1000; 1000

Force - Moment 2

Force on surfaceRetained Volume

Fx; Fy; Fz

600; -800; -200

Force - Moment 3

Force on surfaceNon-Design Space

Fy

-500

Force - Moment 4

Force on surfaceNon-Design Space

Fx; Fy; Fz

150; -200; -100

Force - Moment 5

Moment on surfaceNon-Design Space

Mz

-2000

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Three constraints are created and attached on the Non-Design Spaces on the lower side:

Name

Direction

Constraint 1

x, y, z (=0)

Constraint 2

x, y, z (=0)

Constraint 3

x, y, z (=0)

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Step 4: Definition of load cases

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  • Active in Event1: Force-Moment 1, Force-Moment 3, Force-Moment 5, Constraint 1, Constraint 2 and Constraint 3

  • Active in Event1 Event2: Force-Moment 2, Force-Moment 4, Constraint 1, Constraint 2 and Constraint 3

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Don’t forget to save the project!

Step 6: Starting the optimisation and visualizing the results

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If all data is correct, the optimisation can be started and tracked in the Post Processing. The Analysis Readiness function checks if all information is provided and the optimisation can start.

All result iterations are displayed as soon as they are available. Furthermore, you are able to stop the optimisation in this selection area. However, a Restart is not directly possible.

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The optimisation is finished after 64 iterations (Shape Quality: Balanced).

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The whole MSC Apex Generative Design project with all results can be downloaded here: New Project needed Coming Soon!

View file
nameTutorial_Part_Consolidation_2021.7z

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