Design Space Management for Concept Design Topology Optimization

Overview of the voxel workflow used to generate a design space for topology optimization.

Set Up Design Space Library

A Design Space library is an automotive focused library that can be used to rapidly create full vehicle architecture concept models.

The library consists of basic primitives that can be positioned and edited to generate the appropriate design space.


Figure 1.
  1. From the Assembly ribbon, Parts tool group, click the Part Browser tool.


    Figure 2.
  2. In the Part Browser, right-click and select Library > Libraries from the context menu.
    The Libraries dialog opens.
  3. Register and connect to a new library.
    1. Click to register a new library.
    2. In the Library template field, select DesignSpace.
    3. In the Library path field, enter the desired library path.
    4. In the Library name field, enter a name for the library.
    5. Click Add.
    6. Click Connect.
  4. Open the contents of the library.
    1. From the Home tools, Files tool group, click the Open Model tool.


      Figure 3.
    2. In the Open File dialog, navigate your design space library and open the DesignSpace.hm file.
      The DesignSpace.hm file contains the file hierarchy library structure.
  5. Load primitives from the DesignSpace.hm file.
    1. In the Part Browser, right-click on the part(s) to load and select Representations > Load > from Library from the context menu.
    2. In the Change Representation dialog, select DesignSpace.
    3. Click OK.

Edit and Position Primitives

Edit and position nondesign parts or subsystems in your design space.

Before you can edit non-design parts or sub-systems, you must Set Up Design Space Library. Alternatively, you can import a part or sub-system.

  • Position primitives to accommodate instant package space layout changes using the Move tool with the Collision detection option enabled.
    If the Move tool encounters a physical clash while positioning a part and/or subsystem, the conflicting part will highlight.


    Figure 4.
  • Edit primitives using the Drag tool.


    Figure 5.
  • Fill holes, gaps, and patches in the model using the Hole/Gap Fill tool.

    The voxel mesher will automatically fill voids, however, for large openings in the include and/or exclude package space, it is expected that the model is prepared beforehand. It is therefore recommended that you use the Hole/Gap Fill tool to generate the correct design space.