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Create initial Bounding Box
Open the Design Space Tool in the Optimisation Tools.
Choose the second method Create Design Space enclosing parts and 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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Create Access and Clearance Regions
Next some help geometries are created that will be subtracted from the initial Design Space. For these steps the Design Space is hidden.
Non-Design Spaces are created where the exact Geometry after the optimisation is needed.
With the Offset-Method of the Non-Design Spaces Tool the six Non-Design Spaces are chosen as shown in the picture (offset of 2 mm).
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After this the Access Regions based on the Non-Design Spaces can be created.
Therefore, the Access Region Tool in the Optimisation Tools is activated.
A sufficient extrude Distance is entered and the face of the Non-Design Space is chosen to create the according Access Region.
It’s recommended to choose a scaling factor for the Access Regions to have a little bit extra space for the assembly work later on (like 1.1).
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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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The Bracket is subtracted from the Access Region to ensure that the Non-Design Space isn’t Part of the Access Region solid.
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With the same technique all Access Regions can be created. The result looks like the picture below.
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Next the Clearance Region for the Sensor and the force input and the Access Region for the Sensor are defined.
For the Sensor the Clearance Region Tool is used with an offset of 0.2 mm. All faces except the one that faces towards the attachment point is chosen.
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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, because the rest is already covered with the access regions. The force input is a Retained Volume in this optimisation. It should always be connected to the Design Space via Non-Design Spaces (including Machining Allowances).
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To create the Access Region the Access Region Tool is used again - only this time the “cross section” method.
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Definition of Machining Allowances
Machining Allowances should be applied to every functional surface. Adjacent Faces should be selected at once, to create one coherent Machining Allowancecontinuous geometry. 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 should look like this.
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Click Create Configuration and a GD Configuration will be created.
Click Apply Configuration and the tool executes all necessary Boolean Operations.
The final Design Space is created.
For the next steps hide all the other Parts of the Assembly except for the Design Space. You should also hide the Machining Allowances of the active Design Space to have better access to apply the loads & boundary conditions.
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Go to the Loads & Boundary Condition Tool to enter the loads and fixations. Displacements, Forces, Moments, Gravity and Pressure Loads can be applied using different selection options.
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In this case four forces and one moment are defined. The first two are applied on the retained volume and the last three on the Non-Design Space that is connected to the sensor:. Ensure to display the Design Space Solid to be able to apply Boundary Conditions.
Name | Force/Moment/Pressure/Gravity | Direction | Value in N; Nmm |
|---|---|---|---|
Force - Moment 1 | Force on Retained Volume | Fy; Fz | -1000; 1000 |
Force - Moment 2 | Force on Retained Volume | Fx; Fy; Fz | 600; -800; -200 |
Force - Moment 3 | Force on Non-Design Space | Fy | -500 |
Force - Moment 4 | Force on Non-Design Space | Fx; Fy; Fz | 150; -200; -100 |
Force - Moment 5 | Moment on Non-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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Manufacturing Method: Generic AM
Failure Criteria: Von Mises
Select the Strut Density: Medium
Select the Shape Quality: Balanced FineTune
Set the Complexity Setting: 2225
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Don’t forget to save the project!
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You can always change the Strut Density, Safety Factor and Complexityto influence the results and try out different options
The Complexitycan be increased for a higher resolution and more detailed result (increased calculation time!)
The Strut Densityinfluences the structures which are formed during optimisation
The whole MSC Apex Generative Design project with all results can be downloaded here: Coming Soon!
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