Generative design shape optimization with controlled convergence for computer aided design and manufacturing

A system comprising:

• a non-transitory storage medium having instructions of a computer aided design program stored thereon;
• and
• one or more data processing apparatus configured to run the instructions of the computer aided design program to:
• obtain a design space for a modeled object, for which a corresponding physical structure will be manufactured, one or more design criteria for the modeled object, and one or more in-use load cases for the physical structure, wherein the one or more design criteria include at least one design constraint;
• identify an iteration amount;
• calculate a series of target values for the at least one design constraint, from an initial target value to a final target value, in accordance with the iteration amount and a function;
• iteratively modify a generatively designed three dimensional shape of the modeled object in the design space in accordance with the one or more design criteria and the one or more in-use load cases for the physical structure, wherein the one or more data processing apparatus are configured to run the instructions of the computer aided design program to iteratively modify the generatively designed three dimensional shape of the modeled object by being configured to run the instructions of the computer aided design program to
• perform numerical simulation of the modeled object in accordance with a current version of the three dimensional shape and the one or more in-use load cases to produce a current numerical assessment of a physical response of the modeled object,
• compute shape change velocities for an implicit surface in a level-set representation of the three dimensional shape in accordance with respective ones of target values in the series of target values, starting from the initial target value and ending with the final target value,
• update the level-set representation using the shape change velocities to produce an updated version of the three dimensional shape of the modeled object, and
• repeat at least the performing, the computing and the updating until a predefined number of shape modification iterations have been performed or until the generatively designed three dimensional shape of the modeled object in the design space converges to a stable solution for the one or more design criteria and the one or more in-use load cases;
• and
• provide, by the computer aided design program, the generatively designed three dimensional shape of the modeled object for use in manufacturing the physical structure corresponding to the modeled object using one or more computer-controlled manufacturing systems.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoding a computer aided design program operable to cause one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

• obtaining, by a computer aided design program, a design space for a modeled object, for which a corresponding physical structure will be manufactured, one or more design criteria for the modeled object, and one or more in-use load cases for the physical structure, wherein the one or more design criteria include at least one design constraint;
• identifying an iteration amount;
• calculating a series of target values for the at least one design constraint, from an initial target value to a final target value, in accordance with the iteration amount and a function;
• iteratively modifying, by the computer aided design program, a generatively designed three dimensional shape of the modeled object in the design space in accordance with the one or more design criteria and the one or more in-use load cases for the physical structure, wherein the iteratively modifying comprises
• performing numerical simulation of the modeled object in accordance with a current version of the three dimensional shape and the one or more in-use load cases to produce a current numerical assessment of a physical response of the modeled object,
• computing shape change velocities for an implicit surface in a level-set representation of the three dimensional shape in accordance with respective ones of target values in the series of target values, starting from the initial target value and ending with the final target value,
• updating the level-set representation using the shape change velocities to produce an updated version of the three dimensional shape of the modeled object, and
• repeating at least the performing, the computing and the updating until a predefined number of shape modification iterations have been performed or until the generatively designed three dimensional shape of the modeled object in the design space converges to a stable solution for the one or more design criteria and the one or more in-use load cases;
• and
• providing, by the computer aided design program, the generatively designed three dimensional shape of the modeled object for use in manufacturing the physical structure corresponding to the modeled object using one or more computer-controlled manufacturing systems.