With the Loads & Boundary Condition Tools all Boundary Conditions can be created which are required for the optimization. It can be chosen between Displacement Constraints and Structural Loads.
Displacement Constraints:
Different displacement constraint types can be chosen. The “clamped” constraint locks the translation in all three directions. With the “general” fixation the constrained degrees of freedom can be chosen manually and can be named individually in the name sector for a better overview.
The orientation of the constraints can be influenced directly during the creation process by adding angles to the global coordinate system. Alternatively, the constraints can refer to a prior defined Local Coordinate System.
Constraints can be applied on cells, surfaces, edges and points which automatically become a Nondesign space. To apply a constraint to a cell, the cell has to be created beforehand. This can be done using the split tool or with a Boolean operation. What cells are, how they are created and defined is mentioned here.
Force-Moment:
Forces and moments can be created by component notation or as a resulting load. In the name sector every force/moment can be named individually.
The orientation of the force or moment can be changed directly during the creation by adding angles to the global coordinate system. Otherwise the force/moment can refer to a local coordinate system.
A force should always be applied to volumes/cells which automatically become Nondesign spaces. A moment can be applied on cells, surfaces, edges and points which automatically become a Nondesign space. We always work with cells as load/constraint application point. The image below shows that with nondesign spaces on the left the functional areas that are important for the post processing are completely available. On the right side only the surfaces were used as load/constraint application points and no post processing after additive manufacturing is possible.
To apply a constraint to a cell, the cell must be created first. This can be done using the split tool or with a Boolean operation. What cells are and how they are created and defined is mentioned here.
Gravity (Acceleration):
An acceleration can be created by defining the value with several g’s or a magnitude. As the direction for the acceleration a direction of the global coordinate can be chosen. If the acceleration doesn’t correspond with the global coordinate system, it can be created as a vector. More than one acceleration can be created per optimization however only one acceleration per load case makes sense.
The acceleration only affects the Design space and doesn’t need to be applied on a cell or surface!
Attention: If only an acceleration and no other load is defined in the same load case, the optimization will get rid of the whole material iterative. The acceleration force is directly dependent on the volume of the Design space. As the Design space is reduced so is the acceleration force until no material is left.
Pressure Load:
Pressure loads can be applied only on surfaces. It doesn’t matter if the surface is plane or not. The Pressure magnitude is the only value which is required. The chosen surface will automatically become a Nondesign space.