Idealized models for FEA derived from generative modeling processes based on extrusion primitives

International audienceShape idealization transformations are very common when adapting a CAD component to FEA requirements. Here, an idealization approach is proposed that is based on generative shape processes used to decompose an initial B-Rep object, i.e. extrusion processes. The corresponding primitives form the basis of candidate sub domains for idealization and their connections conveyed through the generative processes they belong to, bring robustness to set up the appropriate connections between idealized sub domains. Taking advantage of an existing construction tree as available in a CAD software does not help much because it may be complicated to use it for idealization processes. Using generative processes attached to an object that are no longer reduced to a single construction tree but to a graph containing all non trivial construction trees, is more useful for the engineer to evaluate variants of idealization. From this automated decomposition, each primitive is analyzed to define whether it can idealized or not. Subsequently, geometric interfaces between primitives are taken into account to determine more precisely the idealizable sub domains and their contours when primitives are incrementally merged to come back to the initial object

Idealized models for FEA derived from generative modeling processes based on extrusion primitives

International audienceShape idealization transformations are very common when adapting a CAD component to FEA requirements. Here, an idealization approach is proposed that is based on generative shape processes used to decompose an initial B-Rep object, i.e. extrusion processes. The corresponding primitives form the basis of candidate sub domains for idealization and their connections conveyed through the generative processes they belong to, bring robustness to set up the appropriate connections between idealized sub domains. Taking advantage of an existing construction tree as available in a CAD software does not help much because it may be complicated to use it for idealization processes. Using generative processes attached to an object that are no longer reduced to a single construction tree but to a graph containing all non trivial construction trees, is more useful for the engineer to evaluate variants of idealization. From this automated decomposition, each primitive is analyzed to define whether it can idealized or not. Subsequently, geometric interfaces between primitives are taken into account to determine more precisely the idealizable sub domains and their contours when primitives are incrementally merged to come back to the initial object

Extraction of generative processes from B-Rep shapes and application to idealization transformations

International audienceA construction tree is a set of shape generation processes commonly produced with CAD modelers during a design process of B-Rep objects. However, a construction tree does not bring all the desired properties in many configurations: dimension modifications, idealization processes, etc. Generating a non trivial set of generative processes, possibly forming a construction graph, can significantly improve the adequacy of some of these generative processes to meet user's application needs. This paper proposes to extract generative processes from a given B-rep shape as a high-level shape description. To evaluate the usefulness of this description, finite element analyses (FEA) and particularly idealizations are the applications selected to evaluate the adequacy of additive generative processes. Non trivial construction trees containing generic extrusion and revolution primitives behave like well established CSG trees. Advantageously, the proposed approach is primitive-based, which ensures that any generative process of the construction graph does preserve the realizability of the corresponding volume. In the context of FEA, connections between idealized primitives of a construction graph can be efficiently performed using their interfaces. Consequently, generative processes of a construction graph become a high-level object structure that can be tailored to idealizations of primitives and robust connections between them

Mutable Objects, Spatial Manipulation and Performance Optimization

Contemporary digital design techniques are powerful, but disjoint. There are myriad emerging ways of manipulating design components, and generating both functional forms and formal functions. With the combination of selective agglomeration, sequencing, and heuristics, it is possible to use these techniques to focus on optimizing performance criteria, and selecting for defined characteristics. With these techniques, complex, performance oriented systems can emerge, with minimal input and high effectiveness and e""ciency. These processes depend on iterative loops for stability and directionality, and are the basis for optimization and refinement. They begin to approach cybernetic principles of self-organization and equilibrium. By rapidly looping this process, design ‘attractors’– shared solution components–become visible and accessible. In the past, we have been dedicated to selecting the contents of the design space. With these tools, we can now ask, what are the inputs to the design process, what is the continuum or spectrum of design inputs, and what are the selection criteria for the success of a design-aspect? These new questions allow for a greater coherence within a particular cognitive model for the designed and desired object. There are ways of using optimization criteria that enable design freedom within these boundaries, while enforcing constraints and maintaining consistency for selected processes and product aspects. The identification and codification of new rules for the process support both flexibility and the potential for cognitive restructuring of the process and sequences of design

Fibre-reinforced additive manufacturing: from design guidelines to advanced lattice structures

In pursuit of achieving ultimate lightweight designs with additive manufacturing (AM), engineers across industries are increasingly gravitating towards composites and architected cellular solids; more precisely, fibre-reinforced polymers and functionally graded lattices (FGLs). Control over material anisotropy and the cell topology in design for AM (DfAM) offer immense scope for customising a part’s properties and for the efficient use of material. This research expands the knowledge on the design with fibre-reinforced AM (FRAM) and the elastic-plastic performance of FGLs. Novel toolpath strategies, design guidelines and assessment criteria for FRAM were developed. For this purpose, an open-source solution was proposed, successfully overcoming the limitations of commercial printers. The effect of infill patterns on structural performance, economy, and manufacturability was examined. It was demonstrated how print paths informed by stress trajectories and key geometric features can outperform conventional patterns, laying the groundwork for more sophisticated process planning. A compilation of the first comprehensive database on fibre-reinforced FGLs provided insights into the effect of grading on the elastic performance and energy absorption capability, subject to strut-and surface-based lattices, build direction and fibre volume fraction. It was elucidated how grading the unit cell density within a lattice offers the possibility of tailoring the stiffness and achieving higher energy absorption than ungraded lattices. Vice versa, grading the unit cell size of lattices yielded no effect on the performance and is thus exclusively governed by the density. These findings help exploit the lightweight potential of FGLs through better informed DfAM. A new and efficient methodology for predicting the elastic-plastic characteristics of FGLs under large strain deformation, assuming homogenised material properties, was presented. A phenomenological constitutive model that was calibrated based upon interpolated material data of uniform density lattices facilitated a computationally inexpensive simulation approach and thus helps streamline the design workflow with architected lattices.Open Acces

Computational automation for efficient design of acoustic metamaterials

Acoustic metamaterials (AMMs) are an exciting technology because they are capable of responding to vibrations in ways that are impossible to achieve with conventional materials. However, realization of AMMs requires engineering design to provide a connection between first-principles research and production of parts that perform as expected. Designing AMMs is a challenging endeavor because evaluating designs is costly and manufacturing metamaterials requires precise techniques with small minimum resolutions. To address these challenges, new computational tools are necessary to aid design. This work proposes three tasks that improve the capabilities of design for AMM while being extensible to other engineering design automation tasks. The first task is to develop a design exploration tool that improves the computational efficiency of identifying sets of high-performing designs in a design space that is sparse and comprises mixed discrete/continuous data. The second task is to develop a process for designers to evaluate manufacturability of difficult-to-manufacture parts and drive co-development of manufacturing methods and AMM. In the final task, a machine learning based method is developed to efficiently model AMM with heterogeneous arrangements of their microstructures such that strict homogenization is infeasible. The outcomes from completing these tasks will provide a significant and novel improvement over existing methods of designing AMMs.Mechanical Engineerin

3D City Models and urban information: Current issues and perspectives

Considering sustainable development of cities implies investigating cities in a holistic way taking into account many interrelations between various urban or environmental issues. 3D city models are increasingly used in different cities and countries for an intended wide range of applications beyond mere visualization. Could these 3D City models be used to integrate urban and environmental knowledge? How could they be improved to fulfill such role? We believe that enriching the semantics of current 3D city models, would extend their functionality and usability; therefore, they could serve as integration platforms of the knowledge related to urban and environmental issues allowing a huge and significant improvement of city sustainable management and development. But which elements need to be added to 3D city models? What are the most efficient ways to realize such improvement / enrichment? How to evaluate the usability of these improved 3D city models? These were the questions tackled by the COST Action TU0801 “Semantic enrichment of 3D city models for sustainable urban development”. This book gathers various materials developed all along the four year of the Action and the significant breakthroughs

Analyse de modèles géométriques d'assemblages pour les structures et les enrichir avec des informations fonctionnelles

The digital mock-up (DMU) of a product has taken a central position in the product development process (PDP). It provides the geometric reference of the product assembly, as it defines the shape of each individual component, as well as the way components are put together. However, observations show that this geometric model is no more than a conventional representation of what the real product is. Additionally, and because of its pivotal role, the DMU is more and more required to provide information beyond mere geometry to be used in different stages of the PDP. An increasingly urging demand is functional information at different levels of the geometric representation of the assembly. This information is shown to be essential in phases such as geometric pre-processing for finite element analysis (FEA) purposes. In this work, an automated method is put forward that enriches a geometric model, which is the product DMU, with function information needed for FEA preparations. To this end, the initial geometry is restructured at different levels according to functional annotation needs. Prevailing industrial practices and representation conventions are taken into account in order to functionally interpret the pure geometric model that provides a start point to the proposed method.La maquette numérique d'un produit occupe une position centrale dans le processus de développement de produit. Elle est utilisée comme représentation de référence des produits, en définissant la forme géométrique de chaque composant, ainsi que les représentations simplifiées des liaisons entre composants. Toutefois, les observations montrent que ce modèle géométrique n'est qu'une représentation simplifiée du produit réel. De plus, et grâce à son rôle clé, la maquette numérique est de plus en plus utilisée pour structurer les informations non-géométriques qui sont ensuite utilisées dans diverses étapes du processus de développement de produits. Une demande importante est d'accéder aux informations fonctionnelles à différents niveaux de la représentation géométrique d'un assemblage. Ces informations fonctionnelles s'avèrent essentielles pour préparer des analyses éléments finis. Dans ce travail, nous proposons une méthode automatisée afin d'enrichir le modèle géométrique extrait d'une maquette numérique avec les informations fonctionnelles nécessaires pour la préparation d'un modèle de simulation par éléments finis. Les pratiques industrielles et les représentations géométriques simplifiées sont prises en compte lors de l'interprétation d'un modèle purement géométrique qui constitue le point de départ de la méthode proposée

Material-based design computation

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 306-328).The institutionalized separation between form, structure and material, deeply embedded in modernist design theory, paralleled by a methodological partitioning between modeling, analysis and fabrication, resulted in geometric-driven form generation. Such prioritization of form over material was carried into the development and design logic of CAD. Today, under the imperatives and growing recognition of the failures and environmental liabilities of this approach, modern design culture is experiencing a shift to material aware design. Inspired by Nature's strategies where form generation is driven by maximal performance with minimal resources through local material property variation, the research reviews, proposes and develops models and processes for a material-based approach in computationally enabled form-generation. Material-based Design Computation is developed and proposed as a set of computational strategies supporting the integration of form, material and structure by incorporating physical form-finding strategies with digital analysis and fabrication. In this approach, material precedes shape, and it is the structuring of material properties as a function of structural and environmental performance that generates design form. The thesis proposes a unique approach to computationally-enabled form-finding procedures, and experimentally investigates how such processes contribute to novel ways of creating, distributing and depositing material forms. Variable Property Design is investigated as a theoretical and technical framework by which to model, analyze and fabricate objects with graduated properties designed to correspond to multiple and continuously varied functional constraints. The following methods were developed as the enabling mechanisms of Material Computation: Tiling Behavior & Digital Anisotropy, Finite Element Synthesis, and Material Pixels. In order to implement this approach as a fabrication process, a novel fabrication technology, termed Variable Property Rapid Prototyping has been developed, designed and patented. Among the potential contributions is the achievement of a high degree of customization through material heterogeneity as compared to conventional design of components and assemblies. Experimental designs employing suggested theoretical and technical frameworks, methods and techniques are presented, discussed and demonstrated. They support product customization, rapid augmentation and variable property fabrication. Developed as approximations of natural formation processes, these design experiments demonstrate the contribution and the potential future of a new design and research field.by Neri Oxman.Ph.D

Friction Force Microscopy of Deep Drawing Made Surfaces

Aim of this paper is to contribute to micro-tribology understanding and friction in micro-scale interpretation in case of metal beverage production, particularly the deep drawing process of cans. In order to bridging the gap between engineering and trial-and-error principles, an experimental AFM-based micro-tribological approach is adopted. For that purpose, the can’s surfaces are imaged with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and the frictional force signal is measured with frictional force microscopy (FFM). In both techniques, the sample surface is scanned with a stylus attached to a cantilever. Vertical motion of the cantilever is recorded in AFM and horizontal motion is recorded in FFM. The presented work evaluates friction over a micro-scale on various samples gathered from cylindrical, bottom and round parts of cans, made of same the material but with different deep drawing process parameters. The main idea is to link the experimental observation with the manufacturing process. Results presented here can advance the knowledge in order to comprehend the tribological phenomena at the contact scales, too small for conventional tribology