Apex Generative Design is a design generator and not a high precisly FE-Analysis Tool, thus generative designed models should be reanalyzed with Apex and/or Nastran. We recommend a reanalysis for all critical parts to include the relevant boundary & overload conditions.
The workflow to get from the generated design to the FE-Analysis can be devided into the following steps:
The final generative designed part can be exported directly inside the postprocessing as a STL-file. We recommend exporting a binary STL-file.
The exported file can be reimported into the same Apex Generative Design project. Please check your Geometry Import/Export settings. A Feature and Vertex angle of 40 degrees is a good value and should be activated if this isn’t already the default value.
To verify the generative designed part an intersection is needed. Further information about the intersection here. The intersected part can be exported as a Parasolid file (.x_b or .x_t).
The Parasolid-file can subsequently be imported to Apex 2020 or Apex Jaguar. Sometimes the imported solid has some manifold faces which must be deleted. By hovering over the part they are visible. With the Geometry Tools - Add/Remove Vertex the unnessesary edges can be deleted (right mouse button - delete on the green edge - multiple selection possible).
The cleaned part can be meshed with tet-elements. Usually the generative designs are very complex and need a lot of elements for an good approximation.
The Boundary conditons can be applied on the intersected surfaces and the analysis model can be set up. For a comparable result all loading and fixation conditions need to be set up identically which is often quite complicated. After the model set up a FE-Reanalysis can be carried out. The results can be viewed in post processing.
A Tutorial for a FE-Reanalysis coming soon!