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Jan 28, 2019
Generative design changes the way we think about our product development process. It enables designers and engineers to explore and choose from hundreds of different design iterations that are created automatically by an intelligent algorithm, based on the parameters of the individual.
With Fusion 360 everyone gets access to this technology to solve design challenges in ways no engineer or designer would imagine. See this article to understand what is necessary to get started and what the advantages of this technology are.
Traditional versus generative design
For most companies, the product development process starts when the design team creates concepts for a new product. Engineers then take these concepts and adjust or even redesign them to meet requirements and feasibility. Eventually, the simulation expert and the machinist run tests on the designs to check for potential failures and manufacturability.
In reality, this downstream process often involves a lot of rework. Finding errors in later stages can drastically extend the time to market, as the following picture shows. As usual in the industry, this workflow also involves a lot of media disruption, based on the amount of tools being used by the different personas.
Generative design can vastly improve this process by inputting design parameters such as materials, manufacturing methods and strength. This process gives you a multitude of different design options and pre-validated results for manufacturability and other set constraints. The transformed results are history based, solid CAD geometry and Fusion 360’s full simulation and CAM capabilities can then be used for further work on the part. This results in an increase of productivity and combines the full workflow into one product.
Autodesk Fusion 360 is the first 3D CAD, CAM and CAE tool of its kind. It connects your entire product development process into a single, cloud-based platform that works on both macOS and Windows.
Generative design is a design exploration technology available in Autodesk’s Fusion 360. Input design parameters, such as materials, size, weight, strength and manufacturing methods— to explore all combinations of a solution. This allows designers and engineers to simultaneously explore and validate hundreds or even thousands of design options that best meet their needs.
Workflow
First, this section will go through the set-up of a generative design study in Fusion 360. Afterwards, it will describe how the designs can be used for further workflows within the same Fusion 360 environment.
Start a generative design project
Generative design projects can be completely new design challenges, but they also help improve existing parts and even assemblies. This example uses an existing automotive component to show the workflow.
Simply open any Fusion design (or any given CAD design which is uploaded to Fusion Team or linked via AnyCAD). Switch from the Model to the Generative Design workspace.
The requirement for generative design to work is that the system must know which areas you need to maintain (e.g. fixtures) and which areas will serve as obstacles. The areas to maintain will stay exactly as defined for the final result. Obstacles are areas where no geometry can be generated, such as a brake disc attached to an upright in this example. In this case, the designer or engineer has to design the negative design space instead of thinking about the look of the finished design.
Set up a study
1. Prepare the geometry in order to define the problem setting that represents the basis of the study. This is essential as the technology will then identify which areas are necessary for the result and where it cannot interfere. Fusion 360 calls these areas either preserve geometry (green) or obstacle geometry (red).
Note: Generative design also allows you to include a starting shape (yellow). Starting shapes can help drive the design into a specific direction. Opposed to a typical topology optimization, this is not mandatory.
2. Apply loads and constraints to the model. Loads and constraints help the system understand the stresses and strain of the model to reach desired weight or stiffness objectives, by calculating and including safety factors.
3. Assign manufacturing constraints and materials. This is one of the key advantage of generative design. The results that are created will be based on the actual manufacturing possibilities the user has and defines. For example, a combination of aluminium and a 3-axis subtractive constraint will create vastly different results than titanium with additive manufacturing for fabrication. So the design options will automatically fit your needs.
4. Send various studies to the cloud to simultaneously create different design options that meet your parameters and requirements.
Explore the outcomes
Filter through the different designs regarding weight, strength, material, manufacturing methods, and more. By choosing different views and adjusting filters, you can compare different outcomes to find the best design, as shown in the picture below. Once the desired outcome has been identified, download the result as a new Fusion file.
Work on the generated design
Usually, topology optimization tools output a mesh (STL). This mesh is difficult for other processes to use because most CAD/CAM tools require solid, watertight geometry.
Fusion 360, however, delivers fully parametric CAD geometry from the generated outcomes. The generated geometry combines flexible, editable freeform T-Splines bodies and solid bodies (B-Rep) that were initially preserved regions. This makes it very easy to edit the part, as Fusion 360's freeform capabilities offer a great amount of flexibility.
Note: Be aware that changing the geometry too much can result in a change of factor of safety (FOS) and overall model strength.
In the Fusion 360 Manufacture workspace, you can prepare and program the part for manufacturing and send it directly to a CNC machine. You can choose from over 80 generic post processors to link your designs directly to your machines and have a seamless workflow.
Summary
Generative design can vastly improve the performance and time of your product development process. Designers and engineers can quickly explore hundreds of different design options within a couple of hours rather than weeks. Given the fact that these design options are fully functional CAD outcomes, all further processes can be realized within the same solution. This ultimately reduces potential errors and non-value added tasks.
Next
For details about Fusion 360, see Fusion 360. For details about generative design in Fusion, see the video Generative Design Technology.
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