The purpose of this functionality is to provide an iso-density surface based on the volumetric density information of a topology optimization, which is conducted using OptiStruct.

OSSmooth can handle both shell and solid elements with the same parameter setting. One example of post-processing of shell element topology optimization is shown below with the following parameter setting in the OSSmooth parameter file:

#general parameters

input_file            mattel

output_file           mattel.stl

output_code           3

 

#specific parameters

isosurface            1  3  0.300

laplacian_smoothing   10  30.000  1

surface_reduction     1  10.000

 

Surface reconstruction of shell element topology optimization.

The parameter laplacian_smoothing is used for additional smoothing. In most cases, the threshold surface (isosurface with second argument 0) already creates a smooth shape. Additional smoothing (isosurface with second argument 3) maintains the topology as suggested by OptiStruct, but it can deviate from the given density distribution. If this option is used, the maximum and average smoothing error output by OSSmooth should be checked. The surface_reduction parameter is used to reduce the number of elements.