Active region adaptations for design domains in topology optimizations

A system comprising:

• an initial design space engine configured to
• identify a design domain for which to optimize a topology based on an objective function, the design domain comprising multiple design elements;
• and
• determine an active region for the design domain, the active region comprising a selected set of active design elements in the design domain;
• and
• an active region adaptation engine configured to:
• iteratively adapt the active region, including by, for a given adaptation cycle:
• expanding the design domain to include branch design elements within a threshold element distance from the active design elements in the active region;
• performing finite element analysis (FEA) on the expanded design domain based on the objective function, including computing a respective sensitivity value based on the objective function for the design elements of the expanded design domain;
• determining an adapted active region by:
• activating, as active design elements, any of the branch design elements with a computed sensitivity value that exceeds an active sensitivity threshold;
• and
• deactivating, from the active region, any active design element with a design variable value that changes less than a threshold amount from a previous adaptation cycle;
• and
• setting the adapted active region as the active region for a subsequent adaptation cycle;
• and
• continue to iteratively adapt the active region until an optimization ending criterion is satisfied.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a computing system to:

• identify a design domain for which to optimize a topology based on an objective function, the design domain comprising multiple design elements;
• determine an active region for the design domain, the active region comprising a selected set of active design elements in the design domain;
• iteratively adapt the active region, including by, for a given adaptation cycle:
• expanding the design domain to include branch design elements within a threshold element distance from the active design elements in the active region;
• performing finite element analysis (FEA) on the expanded design domain based on the objective function, including computing a respective sensitivity value based on the objective function for the design elements of the expanded design domain;
• determining an adapted active region by:
• activating, as active design elements, any of the branch design elements with a computed sensitivity value that exceeds an active sensitivity threshold;
• and
• deactivating, from the active region, any active design element with a design variable value that changes less than a threshold amount from a previous adaptation cycle;
• and
• setting the adapted active region as the active region for a subsequent adaptation cycle;
• and
• continue to iteratively adapt the active region until an optimization ending criterion is satisfied.