Cloud-based CAD parametrization for design space exploration and design optimization in numerical simulations

Abstract

In this manuscript, an automated framework dedicated to design space exploration and design optimization studies is presented. The framework integrates a set of numerical simulation, computer-aided design, numerical optimization, and data analytics tools using scripting capabilities. The tools used are open-source and freeware, and can be deployed on any platform. The main feature of the proposed methodology is the use of a cloud-based parametrical computer-aided design application, which allows the user to change any parametric variable defined in the solid model. We demonstrate the capabilities and flexibility of the framework using computational fluid dynamics applications; however, the same workflow can be used with any numerical simulation tool (e.g., a structural solver or a spread-sheet) that is able to interact via a command-line interface or using scripting languages. We conduct design space exploration and design optimization studies using quantitative and qualitative metrics, and, to reduce the high computing times and computational resources intrinsic to these kinds of studies, concurrent simulations and surrogate-based optimization are used.