Another couple nights to experiment on the parametric design with FEM-Design and Grasshopper. No problem with geometry and load definitions except couple of small bumps. The load combinations require more than couple nights, so I just move to the GUI if I need. I
I have been working on StruSoft’s FEM-Design and Grasshopper connection for a trial case of a precast roof slab for a shaft. The results were great and even more than I expected! I was OK with some post-processing, but getting the results directly with a one-click from Grasshopper was amazing. It can handle shell connections, supports, load combinations and all I needed for this case. It is still improving a lot every day.
Topology optimization is very similar to sculpting. You give a bulk volume to the algorithm and some constraints, it gives you the best shape that it can find. It is possible to use this in any software, as long as you can calculate the stresses - or any other criteria that you can use to eliminate the unnecessary volumes. I have been planning to try this in Plaxis for a long time. Using a couple of hours of coding and trials, it turns out Plaxis - Python connection works pretty well for topology optimization. This code lacks too much such as unstable volume check (stiffness matrix errors) or stop-criteria. But it was fun.
Crack propogation during three point bending beam test using Concrete model in Plaxis. In this case, we have tried to capture the behavior of steel fibre reinforced concrete and results are really promising. The actual photo of the 3 point bending beam test is shown below from Buttignol et. al. (2008).