Once your analysis is prepared and you are ready to begin the solution process, the application enables you to view the progress of different solution elements, including response convergence charts, using the output features of the Solution Information object.
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Important:
If your upstream system is a single Static Structural analysis, it is recommended that you use step-based loading to improve scalability. In order to do so, you need to define your loading conditions using the Tabular Data window and you need to set the Independent Variable property to the option. This does not include the use of the Thermal Condition load.
If you are using the Remote Solve Manager (RSM) for your solution, the density trackers do not automatically update during the solution process. In order to see an optimization update for your model, you need to select the tracker object, right-click, and select the option . This action tells the remote machine to read the appropriate local file and display the current results.
For a Modal analysis: your Structural Optimization analysis will terminate prior to completion if every iteration of the optimization run is not able to extract the maximum number of modes specified from the modal solver.
The solver unit system specified in the analysis settings of the Static Structural or Modal analysis needs to match the unit system specified in the Structural Optimization analysis. If not, the optimization run presents a unit system mismatch error.
For a general overview of the solution process, see the Solve section of the Help.
Interrupting the Solution
After you have started the solution process, you can interrupt the solution using the Interrupt Solution button on the solve dialog box. The state of the optimization system will change and you will receive a green check mark on the dialog box, even if the solution is not converged completely. The following message will display:
"The solution ran for  iterations and aborted as you requested. Examine the convergence
plots to determine if this is an acceptable solution." |
Stopping the Solution
You can stop the solution process using the button on the solve dialog box. The application immediately halts the solution, does not write results data and issues the following message:
| "The solution process was aborted as you requested." |
Reviewing Results
For the Density Based optimization type, you can increase and decrease the boundary of the shape displayed by the tracker using the Retained Threshold property. This property provides a scalable slider feature to increase and decrease the displayed threshold of the removed/retained elements on the model.
For the Level Set Based optimization type, the use of the Retained Threshold property is not relevant. The shape is clearly and unambiguously defined, removing the need for any interpretation.
See the Topology Density and the Topology Elemental Density sections for descriptions of the purpose and use of the results specific to a the analysis.
Note: You can further analyze your optimized model, through continued simulation or by performing a design validation by exporting your results and making them available to a new downstream system.
The Solution object property Export Topology (STL file) enables you to automatically export your results in Standard Tessellation Language (STL) and in Part Manager Database (PMDB) file format, archive the files in zip file format, and then place the zipped file in the Solver Files Directory. This option is set to by default.
In order to make the optimized results available to a downstream system, you need to create the new system on the Workbench Project Schematic and link the Results cell of your Structural Optimization analysis to the Geometry cell of a new downstream system, either a Geometry component system or the Geometry cell of another analysis system. Refer to the Design Validation section for additional details about this process.
Topology Density Tracker Display Feature
In addition, you can open the Solution Information object and select its child object, the Topology Density Tracker object (inserted automatically), as illustrated below.
You can select this object to view the optimization of the model during the solution. The content of the display is determined by the setting of the Show Optimized Region property. For the density-based optimization method, the options include: (default), , and . Note that the option displays only color changes on the model.
Note the following behaviors of the tracker and its properties:
The display is only available when the Topology Density Tracker object is selected during the solution.
If the Topology Density Tracker object is not selected during the solution process, by default, the application displays the result of the final iteration.
The Iteration Number property of the Topology Density Tracker object indicates the iteration number of the result currently displayed in the Geometry window based on the setting of the property of the Solution Information object.
An example solution for a Topology Density Tracker is shown in the following animation.
You can also insert and select a Topology Elemental Density Tracker object under the Solution Information object to view elemental optimization of the model during the solution.