Structural Optimization Using the New RBF Morph ANSYS ACT Extension

www.rbf-morph.comRBF Morph, an ANSYS Inc. Partner

ASWC 2015

June 2015 - Detroit, MI, USA

Structural Optimization Using the New RBF Morph ANSYS ACT Extension

Structural Optimization Using the New RBF Morph ANSYS ACT Extension

Prof. Marco Evangelos BiancoliniUniversity of Rome Tor Vergata

[email protected]

[email protected]


ASWC 2015


• Company Introduction• RBF Morph Software

Line• ACT Extension• Industrial Applications

OutlineOutline


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RBF Morph is a pioneer and world-leading provider of numerical morphing techniques and solutions conceived to efficiently handle shape optimization studies concerning most challenging industrial applications.We are an independent software-house and vendor. Our main product is RBF Morph™, that is a unique morpher that combines a very accurate control of the geometrical parameters with an extremely fast mesh smoothing properly designed to be integrated in advanced computational optimization procedures.

The RBF Morph tool is currently available in the market as an add-on of the CFD commercial code ANSYS® Fluent®, as a stand alone product and as an ANSYS ACT Extension.

Company IntroductionCompany Introduction


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The RBF Morph tool had its inception in 2008 as on-demand solution for a Formula 1 top team. The need was a novel technology able to change the shape of large CFD numerical models as fast as possible. The final result had been so good that the technology was packaged in a commercial software product and launched onto the market.At present, Dr. Marco Evangelos Biancolini is the unique owner of the RBF Morph technology and, as Director, avails himself of the collaboration of several experts for the deliver of products and services.



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Morphing-based numerical tools and services RBF Morph Milestones

2008: tool implementation for Formula 1 top team consultancy activity

2009: founded in Italy 2009: Software Partner of ANSYS 2009: at EASC RBF Morph won the Most Advanced

Approach Award Most Innovative Approach using Simulation Methods

2011: strategic partnership with Tor Vergata University (Rome)

2012: OEM partner of ANSYS 2013: beneficiary of an FP7 AAT Project RBF4AERO 2013: at ASWC RBF Morph awarded for the Best use

of HPC 2013: Partner of Enginsoft 2014: beneficiary of FP7 Project RIBES 2014: beneficiary of FP7 Fortissimo



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Knowledge GalaxyKnowledge Galaxy

http://easc.ansys.com/


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RBF Morph software lineRBF Morph software line


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Mesh Morphing with RBFMesh Morphing with RBF

• A system of Radial Basis Functions is used to fit a solution for the mesh movement/Morphing, from a list of source points and their displacements.

• The RBF problem definition does not depend on the mesh• Radial Basis Function interpolation is used to derive the

displacement in any location in the space, each component of the displacement is interpolated:

• RBF are recognized as on of the best mathematical tool for mesh morphing. The main issue is about performances required for the solution of large dataset.

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One pt at center and border (80 pts)One pt at center and border (80 pts)


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Effect on surface (gs-r)Effect on surface (gs-r)


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Effect on surface (cp-c4)Effect on surface (cp-c4)


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Control of volume mesh (1166 pts)Control of volume mesh (1166 pts)


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Morphing the volume meshMorphing the volume mesh


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• HPC RBF general purposes library (state of the art algorithms, parallel, GPU). This is the numerical kernel of our software. Millions of RBF centers can be fitted in a short time.

• Awarded mesh morphing software available as an add-on for ANSYS Fluent CFD solver

• Stand alone morphing software + smoothing commands for different mesh formats

• ANSYS Mechanical ACT module (Released in May 2015!).

RBF Morph software lineRBF Morph software line


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• Add on fully integrated within Fluent (GUI, TUI & solving stage), Workbench and Adjoint Solver

• Mesh-independent RBF fit used for surface mesh morphing and volume mesh smoothing

• Parallel calculation allows to morph large size models (many millions of cells) in a short time

• Management of every kind of mesh element type (tetrahedral, hexahedral, polyhedral, etc.)

• Support of the CAD re-design of the morphed surfaces

• Multi fit makes the Fluent case truly parametric (only 1 mesh is stored)

• Precision: exact nodal movement and exact feature preservation (RBF are better than FFD)

Fluent add-onFluent add-on


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• RBF solutions are fully compatible and exchangeable between add-on and standalone versions

• Support for STL and CGNS file formats. Selected morphed surfaces can be exported in STL format and back to CAD is possible via STEP files

• Add-on-like interface

• Solver independent processcurrently supports manymesh formats

• Functions scriptable via tcl

• Global supported bi-harmonicfunctions and C0, C2, C4

compact supported functionsavailable

RBF Morph Stand AloneRBF Morph Stand Alone


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• Deeply integrated in ANSYS Mechanical: same look & feel, same interaction logic

• Nested in the usual Mechanical tree as an added object, shares its scoping tools for geometrical and mesh elements selections

• Written in python and xml, uses external RBF Morph core libraries

• Child hierarchical logic for complex morphings (two steps, three steps, …, n steps setups)

ACT module for MechanicalACT module for Mechanical


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ACT Extension for MechanicalACT Extension for Mechanical


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Why FEM mesh morphing?Why FEM mesh morphing?

• It allows to have parametric shape mesh that preserves the original topology. Remeshing noise is avoided.

• It allows to update the shape of a validated FEM model without rebuilding a new mesh.

• New shapes can be investigated even if the underlying CAD geometry is missing.

• The mesh can be updated to measured shapes (i.e. accounting for manufacturing tolerances)

• It’s usually faster than remeshing (short time required to morph, quick set-up of shape variations)


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Why RBF morphing?Why RBF morphing?

• RBF Morph is a best in class product crafted to deal with challenging CFD application (huge meshes)

• 7 years of experience on industrial applications of Radial Basis Functions (RBF)

• RBF are recognized as one of the best mesh morphing tool available in the industrial and scientific community

• A new vision (we have started the new project from scratch) to put in the hands of ANSYS Mechanical Users the fastest and easiest mesh morphing tool

• Satisfy the needs of many users asking for such a kind of technology available in ANSYS Mechanical


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Video number 1Video number 1

https://youtu.be/KxZzq0F3mQ8




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• The evaluation of RBF at a point has a cost of order n.

• The fit has a cost of order n3 for a direct fit (full populated matrix); this limit to ~10.000 the number of source points that can be used in a practical problem.

• Using an iterative solver (with a good pre-conditioner) the fit has a cost of order n2; the number of points can be increased up to ~70.000.

• With parallelization and fast RBF methods (OpenMP GPU) we are able to scale up to very large problems

Accelerating the solverAccelerating the solver


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Size: 160.000 nodes

CPU: 497 s

CPU OMP: 53 s

K2000: 55 s

K40: 34 s

Registered TimeConrod testcaseRegistered TimeConrod testcase


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• Fully embedded in ANSYS Mechanical with same “look & feel”

• Integration in the tree and founded on the working principles of ANSYS Workbench

• Based on the ACT (Application Customization Toolkit) extension concept

• Geometrical and mesh scoping to set-up the mesh morphing problem

• Parametric

• RBF fast solver (including parallel and GPU support)

ACT extension specsACT extension specs


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• Easy to use, flexible and expressive.

• Powered by multi-step RBF technology (which effectiveness has been extensively proven in RBF Morph)

• RBF fitting and mesh morphing happen as a unique HPC process at each shape update. This allows the maximum flexibility with respect to parameterization

• RBF component set-up data stored and persistent with the ANSYS Mechanical project.

• Advanced interaction with DM to enable CAD resynchronization after morphing



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• Hierarchical multi-step RBF approach

• Each morphing target can be controlled using the superposition of a local modifier and an RBF field generated by its sources (if any)

• Source points are extracted using the motion of all the children

• If the child is a leaf its movement is known otherwise it becomes a target and has to be solved descending the tree



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Available ModificationsTranslation



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Available ModificationsScaling



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Available ModificationsRotation



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Available ModificationsSurface offset



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Available ModificationsCurve offset



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Available ModificationsSurface targeting



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Available ModificationsCurve targeting



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• Simple example of working logic behind the

RBF Morph ACT extension

RBF Morph ACT extensionfor Mechanical



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• Morphed mesh!




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• Inspection of the morphing field using post processing tools of Mechanical.




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• Automatic sculpting using field data available in

the FEA solution.




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• CAD2CAD allows to use a new CAD as a morphing target for a whole part. Now

manually it will be automated.




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• CAD2CAD allows to use a new CAD as a morphing target for a whole part. Now

manually it will be automated.




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Industrial ApplicationsIndustrial Applications


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RBF Morph ACT extension for Mechanical: conrod


• Practical problem example: a connecting rod optimization.

• Geometry in Solidworks. Meshing, parameterization (RBF Morph) and structural analysis in Workbench. 161493 nodes mesh.

• The shape of the two lightening holes is varied, translating and resizing them


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• Offset+rigid translation for the holes

• Null movement for other surfaces


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• 2395 N traction load acting on big head

• Titanium Ti-6Al-4V (Grade 5)

• Cumulated damage map over the testing spectrum


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Optimized 334.4g (-6.7%)

Original 358.7g


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BGA Solder Joint studyBGA Solder Joint study

The objective here is to show how RBF Morph can be used in BGA Solder Joint Reliability simulations to show how geometric parameters can be morphed to itemize their effect on stress calculations

DIE

DIEUNDERFILL

MOLDCOMPOUND

SUBSTRATESOLDER BALLS

PCB


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12 3

2

3

1


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Baseline

Optimized (22% stress reduction)


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Baseline

Optimized (22% stress reduction)


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Wheel Rim OptimizationWheel Rim Optimization

Load Scenario

representing TUV test

simulated using ANSYS Mechanical


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Baseline 7.58kg


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Optimized 6.98kg (-8%)


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• The novel mesh morphing tool implemented in ANSYS Mechanical using ACT extension technology has been introduced

• Radial Basis Functions are used for multistep set-up

• The new software tailored for FEM benefits of past experience on RBF Morph ANSYS Fluent add-on (mainly CFD)

• Nevertheless we have restarted all the developments from scratch i.e. reusing knowledge and ideas (no cross compatibility between tools)

• Applications relevant for the automotive industry are demonstrated.

• The software has been released in May 2015

• How can we do better? Please do not hesitate to tell us your needs!

ConclusionsConclusions


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Many thanks for your kind attention!

Prof. Marco Evangelos Biancolini

E-mail: [email protected]

Web: www.rbf-morph.com

Goo.gl/1svYd

Twitter.com/RBFMorph

linkedin.com/company/rbf-morph

youtube.com/user/RbfMorph

Automotive

Structural Optimization Using the New RBF Morph ANSYS ACT Extension