Defining a Thickness Control for the Plate Model (Tosca Structure.gui)

To control the thickness of a model, either define a minimum member size control or a maximum member size control. The specified thickness should be at least twice the average element edge length. Undesirable conditions may appear for smaller values.

  1. For a minimum member size control, define a Design Variable Constraint (DVCON_TOPO) as follows: 

    DVCON_TOPO
	ID_NAME = dvcon_min
	EL_GROUP = ALL_ELEMENTS
	CHECK_TYPE = MIN_MEMBER
	THICKNESS = 7.0
END_

  2. For a maximum member size control, define a Design Variable Constraint (DVCON_TOPO) as follows:

    DVCON_TOPO
	ID_NAME = dvcon_max
	EL_GROUP = ALL_ELEMENTS
	CHECK_TYPE = MAX_MEMBER
	THICKNESS = 5.1
END_

  3. To activate the control, reference the Design Variable Constraint in the OPTIMIZE command:

    OPTIMIZE
	ID_NAME = MAXIMIZE_STIFFNESS
	DV = DV_DESIGN_ELEM
	OBJ_FUNC = USER_OBJ_FUNC
	!insert this line for minimum member size constraint
	DVCON = dvcon_min
	!insert this line for maximum member size constraint
	DVCON = dvcon_max
	CONSTRAINT = VOLUME_CONSTRAINT
END_

Depending on the control, you will see different results: