Optimization/DOE/Robustness

This is an informational event about optimization and stochastic analysis for industrial sized applications. Several presentations are performed about various topics on optimization, robustness and reliability issues. For this, process management and automation of the CAE work flow is treated in the presentations as well.

Possibilities and current developments of the optimization software LS-OPT are discussed and targets as well as future developments will be presented. New applications are introduced by considering examples to demonstrate the practical profit of using LS-OPT. In addition, the development of D-SPEX, a software tool from DYNAmore, is presented and discussed with the participants. The program D-SPEX interfaces with LS-OPT as an advanced optimization and stochastic post-processor. Its outstanding capability is to visualize Meta-Models and to allow the exploration of the design space. Meta-Models (or Response Surface Models) approximate the relationship between design variables and simulation responses and can be used to explore effects of design changes very quickly without performing additional FE-simulations.

By demonstration of practical examples the application of LS-OPT and D-SPEX is displayed. On this, the participants get helpful suggestions for their own optimization or robustness projects with LS-OPT and D-SPEX. In a following discussion with the referents and the other participants, hopefully, many questions and concerns can be solved.

The LS-OPT optimization program

• is well suited for solving highly nonlinear optimization problems and is thus an ideal solution for use in conjunction with LS-DYNA.
• works on the basis of a special, extremely efficient response surface method.
• comes with stochastic methods for assessment of the robustness of FE models and visualization of dependencies between optimization variables and objectives.
• supports the identification of significant and insignificant variables (variable screening).
• has the ability to simultaneously combine several FE applications with different types of analysis and different variable definitions (multidisciplinary optimization (MDO)).
• supports an extremely simple definition of the optimization task at hand via an intuitively designed graphical user interface.

D-SPEX

D-SPEX is a software tool from DYNAmore which has been developed in cooperation with AUDI AG. The program D-SPEX interfaces with LS-OPT as an advanced optimization and stochastic postprocessor. Its outstanding capability is to visualize meta-models and to allow the exploration of the design space. We hope to have aroused your interest and would be pleased much about your participation.

GENESIS by Vanderplaats R&D

• is a fully integrated FE analysis and optimization software.
• can be used to optimize designs in terms of their configuration, shape and material. For this purpose, highly efficient methods to optimize topology, topometry, topography, sizing and shape are available to the user.
• is an excellent choice for the optimization of linear problems with very many design variables (>1 million).
• comes with an intuitive graphical user interface.
• is virtually 100% Nastran-compatible.