About the Clip Example

This example illustrates a plastic clip that is used to fix a variety of objects.

This page discusses:

About the Model

The maximum stress is found on the inner side of the clip.



The aim of optimization is to reduce the stresses without changing the contour of the inner side. Only nodes on the outer side are to be designed. The stress level is very low at the tips. Therefore, an optimization without restrictions would result in these low-stressed areas shrinking. Thus, two cylindrical frozen areas are defined at the tips.



Procedure Summary

Model:clip.ext
Design Area:Node group DV_NODES
CS_DEF New rectangular coordinate system, defined by rotating the global CS by 45° around the global z-axis
CS_DEF New cylindrical coordinate system, defined by translating the previously defined rectangular CS to origin with coordinates (23,23,0)
CS_DEF New cylindrical coordinate system, defined by translating the previously defined rectangular CS to origin with coordinates (23,-23,0)
Design Variable Constraint:Two solid body boundaries for the design nodes
Design Variable Constraint:Fixation of all displacements for the node group NODES_FIX_ALL
Design Variable Constraint:Fixation of the displacement along the global z-axis for the node group nodes_fix_z
Design Variable Constraint:Maximal growth and shrinkage of 6 mm for the design nodes
Mesh Smooth:Mesh smoothing of all elements, while free surface nodes remain free
Objective:Minimize the maximal von Mises stresses in the design area
Stop Condition The global stop condition is set to 5 iterations