3D Printing Makes You Fly Cheaper

General Electric is very interested in reducing weight in aircrafts, so they published a challenge in GrabCAD.com. The challenge consisted on reducing the weight of this component:

Image taken from www.grabcad.com

 

This component is a jet engine bracket. It's made of titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) and the new design will be manufactured using a 3D printer. Yes, you read it right! 3D printing nowadays is capable of printing metals.

The winner of the challenge will be rewarded $8,000.

The bracket will have to withstand the following loading cases:

Image taken from www.grabcad.com

The bracket is fixed with 4 bolts (interfaces 2 to 5) and the loads are applied by means of a pin (interface 1).

 

In my opinion, the best way to solve this problem is by doing a topology optimization. Why? Because a topology optimization will give you the lightest component that can withstand those loading cases.

I downloaded the bracket to be optimized and did a Finite Element Analysis. I wanted to know the stress level of the component before any weight reduction was carried out.

The maximum von Mises stress (of all loading cases) was around 530 MPa and was located at the pin hole. Considering a yield strength of 900 MPa for this titanium alloy and a Factor of Safety of 1.5, a maximum von Mises stress of 600 MPa shouldn't be surpassed. That means that there was still some room for material removal.

I used OptiStruct to perform the topology optimization. I took into account the 4 loading cases.

The objective of the optimization was to maximize the stiffness of the bracket and as constraint I chose a volume reduction of 60 %. The result was:

I exported the result to a CAD program and made the final design of the optimized bracket:

STL file imported to CAD

Final Design in CAD

After a Finite Element Analysis of the new bracket (for all the loading cases) I obtained a maximum von Mises stress of 585 MPa, which is under the limit of 600 MPa. The maximum was also located at the pin hole.

The results are AMAZING:

• 60 % weight reduction (from 2 kg to 800 g)
• Only 10 % increase in maximum von Mises stress (from 530 to 585 MPa). Stress under 600 MPa and therefore Factor of Safety over 1.5

In conclusion, topology optimization is a very powerful tool, which combined with 3D printing can lead to super-lightweight and super-strong components like the bracket of the challenge.

Lighter planes need less fuel. And fuel is very expensive. So this technology could really make your flight tickets cheaper! And you will fly as safe as always!

Furthermore, the benefits of producing less CO₂ and pollutants will benefit the whole planet!

So, will I win the challenge?

NOTE

You can see the whole GE Challenge here:

http://grabcad.com/challenges/ge-jet-engine-bracket-challenge

The Secret to Design Super-Lightweight Components

In mathematics, an optimization problem consists on minimizing or maximizing a function taking into account some constraints.

I want to show you an example of how to apply mathematics in order to solve a problem in the real life: the design of super-lightweight components. That's possible by means of a topology optimization.

In a topology optimization, the function to be maximized is the stiffness of a component. The constraint to be satisfied is a limit on the mass.

Therefore, the result of the optimization is a component that not only is lighter but also is the stiffest possible for its weight.

That's the secret to design super-lightweight components. And they will be very strong!

Let me show you a practical example.

The first thing to do in a topology optimization is to determine the space to be optimized. That's called the design space.

Then, it's necessary to mesh the component and apply the boundary conditions (loads and constraints).

During the optimization process, it's decided which elements are really working and which are being a little bit lazy. The working elements are kept, while the lazy ones are removed. That's the way to keep the really important elements. That's Intelligent Use of Material!

Result of the topology optimization

In this case, the optimization has been carried out with a weight reduction of 70%.

Final Design

As you can see in the Finite Element Analysis of the optimized design, low-stressed areas (dark blue) are minimal, which means good use of material. This is the objective of a topology optimization, to use material only where it is necessary. There are no lazy elements. And there are no excessive working ones.

If you would like to learn more about topology optimization or want to find out how you can do it too, I invite you to visit my website:

www.topologyoptimizationforyou.jimdo.com 

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