About the Shaft Turn Example

This example shows how to add a turning restriction.

About the Model

For rotational symmetrical components, a non-symmetrical shape should not be generated in the optimization. Therefore, the design nodes have to be linked in a symmetrical way. For rotation symmetrical meshes, the standard link formulation in SIMULIA Tosca Structure may be used. If the meshes are not rotational symmetrical (what is often the case in tetrahedron meshes) the meshindependent or geometric approach in SIMULIA Tosca Structure has to be used to maintain symmetrical behavior. The following figure illustrates the boundary conditions and the stress distribution of the initial model.



Segmentation into link groups is not possible for arbitrary meshes. The parameter SURF_TURN in the LINK_SHAPE command is used to define the restriction. This geometric approach allows the definition of turning restrictions for any finite element mesh. The rotation curve is determined automatically by the optimization system. The user only has to define a surface node group which specifies the turn surface and the rotation axis using a coordinate system.

The definition of the following groups is required for the optimization task:



Procedure Summary

Model: shaft_turn.ext
Design Area: Node group design_area
CS_DEF New cylindrical coordinate system, defined by rotating the global CS by 270° around the global x-axis
Design Variable Constraint: Apply boundary conditions for all nodes
Design Variable Constraint: Turning restriction for node group geo_area1 in direction of the global positive y-axis
Design Variable Constraint: Fixation of the displacement along the global y-axis for node group fix_area
Design Variable Constraint: Fixation of the first (radial) coordinate (in the new cylindrical coordinate system) of the displacements for node group cylinder_circle
Mesh Smooth: Mesh smoothing of all elements, while free surface nodes remain free
Objective: Minimize the maximal von Mises stresses in the design area
Settings: Read boundary conditions for all nodes
Stop Condition The global stop condition is set to 6 iterations