a way to export volumetric lattices as body

[matheyer]

I want to export a body that has been given a volumetric lattice (Gyroid) as an SAT file. Currently, I see only one solution for this: after a body is modified with an internal lattice structure, it must first be converted to a mesh, and then the mesh can be converted using the 'faceted' method. The problem here is that the file becomes much heavier when a mesh is created, or I have to opt for a mesh with fewer elements, causing the Gyroid to lose its smoothness and develop indentations.

Additionally, I want to use this file later in Abaqus, which means I will need to mesh the exported file again. It is obviously not ideal to mesh a body twice.

Does anyone know a way to export the Gyroid structure as a smooth body?

[g-andresen]

Hi,

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@matheyer wrote:

Does anyone know a way to export the Gyroid structure as a smooth body?

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I am not aware of any, nor can I imagine how such a complex structure can be created with a significantly reduced amount of data while retaining all the details.

günther

[wersy]

What works with Solidworks could perhaps also work with Fusion.

Is it worth the effort?

https://youtu.be/PJovx-ytJYI

[TrippyLighting]

@wersy yes, that is possible, but obviously does not offer the same combination of modeling speed and parametric and "fast" as the lattices in Fusion. 

[TrippyLighting]

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@g-andresen wrote:

...nor can I imagine how such a complex structure can be created with a significantly reduced amount of data while retaining all the details.

Side FX Houdini can create this as a quad mesh procedurally and parametrically, but the output might be a quad mesh instead of NURBS surfaces. Blenders geometry nodes also might allow to do this parametrically/procedurally also with the output being a quad-mesh.

That quad mesh can then be converted into ta T-Spline and NURBS. It will require manual modeling to trim it and combine it with the model of the OP.

[TrippyLighting]

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@matheyer wrote:

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Additionally, I want to use this file later in Abaqus.

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Doing FEA on Gyroid or other lattice structures will require an enormous amount of computing power and memory

[shubhambRKD3L]

Here are the steps you can follow:

1. Create the desired volumetric lattice.

2. Convert the lattice to a mesh body.

3. Tessellate the mesh, which transforms it into a “body” (from the mesh menu/module).

While this method technically works, the mesh body of a lattice typically consists of numerous mesh elements, depending on the desired accuracy. I recommend a low-accuracy mesh, which generally creates between 100,000 and 1 million elements. Higher accuracy can quickly exceed a million elements. As you can imagine, tessellating that many elements can be time-consuming. However, in some cases, medium accuracy can also be achieved, depending on the complexity and size of the model.

I hope this information is helpful.