System, method and computer program for creating united cellular lattice structure

A method of generating a computer-based united cellular lattice structure comprising the steps of:

• receiving data representative of a plurality of subvolumes formed from a part volume, each subvolume having a plurality of sides such that the subvolume is configured to be positioned adjacent to at least one other subvolume, the plurality of sides including at least one of an adjoining side and a non-adjoining side, the subvolume having a side combination corresponding to a number and orientation of adjoining sides and non-adjoining sides, each subvolume including a plurality of nodes, each of the plurality of nodes being associated with one of the plurality of sides;
• assigning local node numbers and global node numbers to the plurality of nodes of each subvolume, each global node number being shared or non-shared, each local node number corresponding to one of the global node numbers;
• for each subvolume, determining jointly all adjoining sides of the subvolume by identifying sides of the subvolume whose nodes have local node numbers entirely corresponding to shared global node numbers;
• receiving data representative of a base lattice cell having a plurality of surfaces, some of the surfaces being face surfaces corresponding to faces of the base lattice cell;
• receiving data representative of a modified lattice cell from the base lattice cell for each side combination of the subvolumes such that each modified lattice cell has face surfaces on faces thereof corresponding to non-adjoining sides and does not have face surfaces on faces thereof corresponding to adjoining sides;
• inserting data representative of copies of the modified lattice cells into corresponding data representative of subvolumes such that the faces of the modified lattice cell copies having face surfaces are positioned along non-adjoining sides of the subvolumes and the faces of the modified lattice cell copies not having face surfaces are positioned along adjoining sides of the subvolumes thereby forming a united cellular lattice structure;
• verifying side combination meta-data associated with the modified lattice cell copies and the corresponding subvolumes to validate the united cellular lattice structure;
• and
• replacing data representative of a modified lattice cell copy associated with a side combination with data representative of a modified lattice cell copy associated with a different side combination to modify the united cellular lattice structure.

A computer modeling system comprising:

• a processor configured to:
• generate data representative of a plurality of subvolumes formed from a part volume, each subvolume having a plurality of sides such that the subvolume is configured to be positioned adjacent to at least one other subvolume, the plurality of sides including at least one of an adjoining side and a non-adjoining side, the subvolume having a side combination corresponding to a number and orientation of adjoining sides and non-adjoining sides, each subvolume including a plurality of nodes, each of the plurality of nodes being associated with one of the plurality of sides;
• assign local node numbers and global node numbers to the plurality of nodes of each subvolume, each global node number being shared or non-shared, each local node number corresponding to one of the global node numbers;
• for each subvolume, determine jointly all adjoining sides of the subvolume by identifying sides of the subvolume whose nodes have local node numbers entirely corresponding to shared global node numbers;
• generate data representative of a base lattice cell having a plurality of surfaces, some of the surfaces being face surfaces corresponding to faces of the base lattice cell;
• generate data representative of a modified lattice cell from the base lattice cell for each side combination of the subvolumes such that each modified lattice cell has face surfaces on faces thereof corresponding to non-adjoining sides and does not have face surfaces on faces thereof corresponding to adjoining sides;
• generate data representative of copies of the modified lattice cells;
• and
• insert the data representative of copies of the modified lattice cells into corresponding data representative of subvolumes such that the faces of the modified lattice cell copies having face surfaces are positioned along non-adjoining sides of the subvolumes and the faces of the modified lattice cell copies not having face surfaces are positioned along adjoining sides of the subvolumes thereby forming a united cellular lattice structure;
• verify side combination meta-data associated with the modified lattice cell copies and the corresponding subvolumes to validate the united cellular lattice structure;
• replace data representative of a modified lattice cell copy associated with a side combination with data representative of a modified lattice cell copy associated with a different side combination to modify the united cellular lattice structure;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable memory configured to store at least one of the data representative of the base lattice cell, the subvolumes, the modified lattice cells, the modified lattice cell copies, and the meta-data.