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The shape (topology) of a highly loaded bracket was optimized using Altair's Inspire software. The mass of the bracket was reduced to 41% of its original value. Thus, a 59% weight reduction. The bracket is to be made using 3D printing, and the material is titanium.
Original Design
The original bracket is made of titanium using conventional machining. Note that the holes are not symmetric. This initial design was provided to me.
The minimum safety factor is 1.8, and areas of high stress concentration are very noticeable, especially in the screw holes. Its mass is 14.162 kg.
Final Design
The final bracket design is made of titanium using 3D printing. Now, the minimum safety factor is 1.4 (as requested by the project). The weight was reduced to 8.3422 kg, a 59% reduction in mass.
Critical Point for Safety Factor (Left Call-Out)
Matthew_Phillips_TopologyOpt_Report-redacted.pdfProject Report. STL file download HERE.
Results
Displacement
Shear
Tension-Compression
Major Principal Stresses
Minor Principal Stresses
Method
A design space was created. This tells the program where it can and cannot add/remove material.The red/brown area is the design space, grey areas cannot be modified.
The results after optimization, with 20mm minimum element size. The minimize mass option was used with a target safety factor of 1.45. The surface is still very bumpy and not close to being a finished product.
A polynurbs surface was created around the optimization results manually. This took several hours to get right. Initially, the polynurb surface intersected with the other surfaces, but these intersections were trimmed.
The final geometry after smoothing.
After smoothing. FEA showed a safety factor below the required 1.4, so additional supports were added manually.
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