M10MAE CAE

Introduction

Design optimisation is a field of engineering that uses optimisation methods to

solve design problems. It allows designers and engineers to incorporate all relevant
disciplines simultaneously. The optimum of the simultaneous problem is superior to the
design found by optimising each discipline sequentially, since it can exploit the
interactions between the disciplines. Including all disciplines simultaneously is also
achievable but will lead to complexity of the problem.

The largest number of applications of design optimisation has been in the field
of aerospace engineering, such as aircraft and spacecraft design. Since 1990, the
technique has expanded to other industries. Globalization has resulted in more
distributed, decentralized design teams. High-performance PC has largely replaced the
centralized supercomputer and the internet and local area networks have facilitated
sharing of design information. Disciplinary design software in many disciplines such as
NASTRAN, HYPERMESH, finite element analysis programs for structural design have
become mature.

With all the advantages, optimisation design has been used in a number of fields
as well, including automotive design, naval architecture, computers and electricity
distribution, etc.

In modern industry, design optimisation is widely used as it is crucial to

engineer to a minimum cost and weight to stay competitive. It is fundamental to
understand the design load path at the early stage of design as well as being aware of the
production volume, the part cost, structural stiffness and strength requirements.

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Executive summary

The coursework for M10MAE CAE module will address design weight
optimisation of a bracket. Initial optimisation of the bracket, explaining the choice of
optimisation parameters and linking these choices with the material given, the
manufacturing process and production volume will be provided.

The design space for the bracket is 300 mm in height, 300mm in width and 300
in length. A force is loaded on the front face of the design space with combined Fx=-
400N, Fy=-6000N and Fz=-1000N. The boundary conditions are set to be 4 clamps on
the rear face of the design space. The material involved here is steel.

The maximum optimisation deflection should not exceed 5mm. And the
production unit of this bracket is 10, a limited quantity.

The design space in this case is shown in Figure-1.

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Figure-1 design space

Process of design optimisation

1. Building and meshing the Design space in Hypermesh 9.0

There are several ways to build the design space, either by building a model in
CATIA then export the model as an IGS file to be use in Hypermesh or just build nodes
by geometry then link them to build lines and surfaces.

In this case, since the design space is defined to be 300 mm in height, 300mm in
width and 300 in length, simply geometry typing in is an easy way to build the nodes
hence the design space in hypermesh. The nodes and lines are shown in Figure-2

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Figure-2 nodes and lines of design space

To do the solid mesh of the design space, the first step is to build a surface in Geom
panel by selecting any surface on the cube.

Then mech the surface by pressing F12 or in 2D panel, Automesh. Select the
size and bias sub-panel, set the meshing mode to automatic. The Element size is set to
be 25, which means the surface will have 12 x 12 = 144elements in total. And element
type specify quads.

Then go to the elem offset panel in 3D, select the solid layers sub-panel. With

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the elems selector active, select the elements on the base. In this case, the design space
will be meshed as a cube including 12 x 12 x 12 solid elements. Hence the number of
layers will be 12 , total thickness is set to be equal to 300mm. By clicking offset+/-,
the solid hexa mesh is created as shown in Figure-3

Figure-3 Solid mesh of design space

2. Assigning Material and Property

Since the components need to reference a material and property, the materials
collectors and property should be created then.

Select the Model tab, right click inside of the Model Browser window,
activate the menu over Create, and click Material. In this case, material has been
defined to be Steel in the assignment requirments. So, in the Name: field, Steel will
be typed in. Select MAT1 as Material type and click Create/Edit. By clicking E,

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and Nu, RHO, enter the defaul value of the material properties. Now the material
of this design space is created.

Creat the Property by right clicking inside the Model Browser window,
activate the menu over Create. Enter the name prop_solid in the Name: field,
select PSOLID as the Property type andselect Steel as the Material name. The
propery is created then.

The property of the design space works only when it is assigned to the solid
mesh. From the Collectors pull down menu, activate the menu over Edit, and click
Components. Click on comps, check the box design_space, and click select.
Toggle <property blank> to property= ,double click on property= and select
prop_solid.

Finaly, by clicking update, the property of the design space will be set up as
shown in Figure-4.

Figure-4 Property and Material

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3. Constraints, Forces and Loadsteps

The assignment requirment shows that there are 4 clamps on the rear face of
design space and a combined force of Fx=-400N, Fy=-6000N and Fz=-1000N on
the front face.

Right click inside the Model Browser window and move the cursor over Create
to activate the extended menu and select LoadCollector. Create the boundary
conditions in the Name: field type Bc, Leave the Select type: field set to None.
Similarly create load collectors called Force.

From Model Browser expand LoadCollectors, right click on Bc, and click on
Make Current. From the Analysis page, enter the constraints panel. Make sure the
create subpanel is selected using the radio buttons on the left-hand side of the panel.

Select 4 different nodes (which are 25mm away from the centre points of each edge)
on the rear surface by clicking on them in the graphics window. Make them fully
constrained by selecting all the 6 dofs. Then the Bc (constraint) is created. A
constraint symbol (triangle) appears in the graphics window at the selected node.
The number 123456 is written beside the constraint symbol, indicating that all the 6
dofs are constrained.
From Model Browser under expand LoadCollectors, right click on Force, and
click on Make Current. From Analysis page, select forces panel. Click nodes and
select the centre node of the front surface from the graphic window

Set the switch below to global system and constant components, enter the X
comp = -400, Y comp = -6000 and Z comp = -1000 then create. An arrow, pointing

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at the centre node of front surface, should appear at the node on the screen then.
The loadcase on design space can be seen in Figure-5.

Figure-5 loadcases on design space

By clicking loadsteps in 3D panel, enter the loadsteps setting. Type in

design_space in the name= field. Make sure type of loadsteps to be linear
static, select SPC to be Bc, LOAD to be Force, then creat the loadsteps in this
case.

4. Setting up the optimization

To set up the optimization, a topology definition should be created first. From

the Analysis page enter the optimization panel then enter the topology panel. Make
sure the create subpanel is selected using the radio buttons on the left-hand side of

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the panel. Click DESVAR=, type design_space, and press Enter. Click props,
choose prop_solid from the list of props, and click on select. Choose type:
PSOLID then click Create. A topology design space definition, design_sapce, has
been created.

The symmetry constraints in topology optimization lead to symmetric designs

for solid models, regardless of the initial mesh, boundary conditions or loads. In
this case, the 1-pln sym option enforces symmetry across the design_space. A
symmetric mesh is not required, as OptiStruct will create variables that are nearly
identical across the plane(s) of symmetry. The plane of symmetry is defined by
specifying the anchor and the first nodes. The plane of symmetry will then be
perpendicular to the vector from the anchor node to the first node, and passes
through the anchor node.

In this case, select the pattern grouping subpanel to define the symmetry
constraint and toggle the pattern type: to 1-pln sym. Click anchor node, select the
node with the load on the front surface. Click first node, select the opposite node
on the rear face, then update. Now, all elements organized in this design property
collector are now included in the design space.

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Enter the responses panel, click responses = and enter vol. Click on the
response type switch and select volume from the pop-up menu. Make sure the
regional selection is set to total (this is the default). A response, vol, is defined for
the total volume of the model. Again enter disp in responses=, set the response type
to be static displacement. Click the node with the load on the front surface, select
total disp from the radio options.

The next step is to set up objective by clicking return to go back to the

optimization panel and then enter the objective panel. The switch on the left
should be set to min. Click response= and select Vol and click create.

Finally go to the dconstraints in optimization panel, type in displ and set the
response to be disp. Click on upper bound and set it to be 5mm, make sure the
loadsteps to be design_space, and then Creat.

Now the optimization of this case has been set up as shown in Figure-6

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Figure-6 Optimization

5. Running the optimization

From the Analysis page enter the OptiStruct panel. Click save as…, enter
design_space.fem as the file name, and click Save. Click the run options: switch
and select optimization. Click OptiStruct to run the optimization

After the completing the optimization process, click the hyperview button. Also
open the design_space.out file check the result from iteration 80, got the Design
Volume Fraction = 3.43517E-02.

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In Hyperview, click the next page tool bar button and go to design history. Click
Iso Value on tool bar and choose iteration 80 at the right bottom of the window then
click apply. The final shape of the bracket can be seen as shown in Figure-7

Figure-7 Final shape

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Manufacturing strategy and material grade chosen

The final shape of the bracket shows that the geometry of the component is not
that complex. It is symmetrical as well. The production units are only 10, which
mean a production line for large amount manufacturing is not needed.

Refer from CES Edupack 2008, gray cast iron is chosen as the material of the
bracket in this case, considering its low cost, easy manufacturing process and
credible properties. Its composition and properties are shown in Figure-8

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Figure-8 Grey cast iron [CES Edupack 2008]

The main manufacturing process can be chosen as casting.

One of the reason of choosing casting as the rough machining of this bracket is
that the structure is not that complex. Also there is no high thickness variance or
thin-shell structure in different parts of the bracket.

In this case, the production unit is limited to only 10, so the process of manual
green sand casting could be employed. In green sand casting, a mixture of sand and
clay is packed around a pattern that has the shape of the desired casting. The pattern
is then removed to leave the cavity in which molten metal is poured. The mold is
broken to retrieve the casting when the metal solidifies. The manual green sand
casting process is used when small quantities of castings are required. The advantage
of green sand cast is the low cost because of using wood patterns. But disadvantage

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is that mold compaction is done manually using hand rammers which make molding
slow and labor intensive.

Figure-9 Green sand casting (Manual) [CES Edupack 2008]

The surface roughness of casting should be controlled in an acceptable

level. But anyway, because the roughness of the bracket is not highly required, it
can be suggested that the finish machining is not an essential process in this
case.

Cost Estimation

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Total cost of these brackets will be separated into two parts, which are material
price and the manufacturing cost.

The design_space.out file can show the mass of the final shape is about 7.3 kg.
Production quantities are 10. The material lost in manufacturing process should be
considered as well. Simply, assume the lose rate is 10%, so the total cost of material
will be:
7.3 x 10 x (100 / 90) x price of material

Refer from CES Edupack 2008, the price of gray cast iron is 0.3 GBP/kg, so
the cost of material is about 25 GBP.

The manufacturing process cost rate is between 12 to 65 GBP per unit (CES
Edupack 2008). Assume it to be 30, then the cost will be 300GBP for 10 units.

As a conclusion, the total cost of the brackets will be about 325GBP.

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Conclusion

The Hypermesh optimization process is powerful. After building the design

space and meshing, optimization parameter is set in Hypermesh program step by
step. One thing need to be mentioned here is that the design and optimization
parameter could be changed; the change will result in different final shapes.

Another important point is that the meshing quality plays a very important role
in the optimization process. The results and final shapes change as long as the size
of meshing changes. Smaller mesh size will produce more refined final shapes as
the meshing quality improved. But on the other hand, the simulation time required
hence the computing time and CPU requirement will increase as a negative effect.
Because the bracket is not a quite complex component, also to simplify the
optimization, the meshing size in this case is set to be 25, a reasonable magnitude.

The next step of this assignment will be a refine of the bracket. CATIA will be
employed to move some redundant part of the shape, and also to devise the
component in order to make the bracket be realistic to machine.

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