About Design Explorations

You use design explorations to manage your optimizations.

A design exploration is divided between design space analyses, optimization cases, and shape validations.

Design Space Analyses
Design space analyses contain all of the information required to perform the validation of your initial setup; for example, loads, boundary conditions, and output requests. You can use the Physics tools in the Topology Optimization or Shape Optimization assistant to create the objects in a design space analysis.

A design space analysis contains a static perturbation step that is used to perform a static stress analysis as a linear perturbation about the initial state. You use a design space analysis to verify that the analysis of the original model runs to completion and produces the expected behavior before any optimization is attempted.

Optimization Cases
Optimization cases contain all of the information required to perform the optimization, such as the selected design space and functional regions, targets, constraints, and shape controls. You use the tools in the Exploration Assistant to create the objects in an optimization case.
Shape Validations
Shape validations are similar to design space analyses in that they contain all of the information required to perform a validation of a shape. However, a shape validation is performed on the 3D model created by the optimization.
From the assistant, you can change the workflow:
  • Analysis case
  • Topology optimization case
  • Shape optimization case

Functional Generative Design generates separate results for the design space analysis, optimization case, and shape validation.

You can click to display the Feature Manager. It provides a convenient display to view and access the features defined under the model, scenario, or results. For example, you can view the prescribed conditions applied to your model and edit a pressure load or a clamp.