Designers using the software discovered high stresses between the two cylinder rods of their original HAM design that would compromise safety and rigidity levels. Another DesignSpace project involved designing a heavy-duty lifting device that Caterpillar uses to raise transmissions, engines, and other large pieces of equipment during disassembly and repair. A 25-ton vehicle support stand was also designed with the new software. DesignSpace 3.0 for SolidWorks 97Plus and Autodesk Mechanical Desktop run on Windows 95 and Windows NT platforms. Based on topology-optimization techniques, OptiStruct computes the optimum material topology for a model within a given design space.
Engineers can use the software to test new concept designs or improve existing ones.
With topology optimization, the most structurally efficient material layout is determined given a package space, loads, boundary conditions, and target mass. Initially, the specified mass is evenly distributed throughout the design space. The mass is then iteratively redistributed within the design space to maximize stiffness. The resulting material layout provides the optimal starting point for the design. In addition to being faster, the solver is more efficient in terms of CPU time, memory requirements, and disk-space use.