Generative design gives way to high safety factor

[Anonymous]

Hi, I have a project at my university where we are going to reduce the weight of an anchor. I'm trying to partly use generative design to solv the problem. The problem is that I set the safety factor to  1.0, but get safety factors from 40 and upwards to several hundreds, which also results in segnificantly higer weight than needed... Does anyone have an idea of something i can do/change?

[etfrench]

I can't tell you how to change the generative design parameters, but I think the current version will fail in actual use.  The teeth on the plow portion will be easily bent or broken.  Also consider what will happen when a rock jams between two of the teeth.  This will cause the anchor to ride up instead of digging in.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, we will redesign it

[etfrench]

After thinking about this a bit more, isn't the holding power of the anchor directly related to the surface area of the plow portion?  Would thinning it in spots on just the backside be more effective? 

[Anonymous]

yes i think so, the original idea was to have so small holes that it acted as a normal surface. Maybe also angle the metal around the holse towards the middle of the hole, creating a arc of compressed sand over the hole increasing the effect.

Another concern with lighter and less dense anchor will be its ability to penetrate the sand, creating some small hooks may make it easier, but i totally agree the "web" structure of this anchor is too extreme. Also i think most of the material will be in the "shaft" of the anchor, so it won't be that much to gain at the blades.(but at the same time everything counts)

[etfrench]

I'll be interested in seeing your final design.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, we were not able to work much more with the product. I would have liked to go deeper and work more with it, but we ran out of time. From the FEA it looks like it is possible to reduce the weight by around 2/3 of a stainless steel anchor. Maybe I can continue the work in a later project.