iBESO: An interactive 2D topology optimization software

Welcome to the iBESO user guide.

iBESO [1] is a digital design tool that can generate innovative, lightweight, and efficient 2D structural designs. It is developed based on the interactive topology optimization method considering subjective preferences, SP-BESO [2]. This technique allows designers to iteratively explore desired designs by alternately inputting quantified subjective preferences and performing topology optimization.

iBESO can simultaneously perform up to four 2D topology optimization programs based on the SP-BESO method. The four generated designs can be parallel evaluated and further modified based on subjective preferences (scoring and drawing), resulting in new designs through subsequent topology optimization. Controlling design parameters of iBESO is able to balance subjective preferences and structural performance according to design requirements. Finally, repeatedly running iBESO results in desired structural designs.

This guide covers all the basics, such as installation, GUI instruction, and detailed tutorials.

Have fun with iBESO :)

Download

Windows x64

Windows x64 (China)

Contents

• Installation – detailed installation instructions

• GUI – a description of the graphic user interface

• Tutorial – iBESO tutorials

Authors

Zhi (Albert) Li, Ting-Uel (Jeff) Lee, Yi Min (Mike) Xie

Acknowledgment

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Australian Research Council (FL190100014).

License

iBESO is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

Citation

[1] Z. Li, T.U. Lee, Y.M. Xie, iBESO: An interactive topology optimization design tool, RMIT University, https://doi.org/10.25439/rmt.22560256.v2.

[2] Z. Li, T.U. Lee, Y.M. Xie, Interactive structural topology optimization with subjective scoring and drawing systems, Computer-Aided Design 160 (2023) 103532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cad.2023.103532.

BibTex

@article{Li2023,
author = "Zhi Li and Ting-Uei Lee and Yi Min Xie",
title = "{iBESO}",
year = "2023",
month = "4",
url = "https://rmit.figshare.com/articles/software/iBESO/22560256",
doi = "10.25439/rmt.22560256.v1"
}

@article{LI2023103532,
title = {Interactive Structural Topology Optimization with Subjective Scoring and Drawing Systems},
journal = {Computer-Aided Design},
volume = {160},
pages = {103532},
year = {2023},
issn = {0010-4485},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cad.2023.103532},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010448523000647},
author = {Zhi Li and Ting-Uei Lee and Yi Min Xie},
keywords = {Topology optimization, Subjective preferences, Scoring, Drawing, Structural design},
abstract = {Topology optimization techniques can create efficient and innovative structural designs by redistributing underutilized materials to the most-needed locations. These techniques are typically performed based purely on structural performance without considering factors like aesthetics and other design requirements. Hence, the obtained structural designs may not be suitable for specific practical applications. This study presents a new topology optimization method, SP-BESO, by considering the subjective preferences (SP) of the designer. Here, subjective scoring and drawing systems are introduced into the popular bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) technique. The proposed SP-BESO method allows users to iteratively and interactively create topologically different and structurally efficient solutions by explicitly scoring and drawing their subjective preferences. Hence, users do not need to passively accept the optimization results. A user-friendly digital design tool, iBESO, is developed, which contains four optimizers to simultaneously perform the proposed SP-BESO method to assist in the design exploration task. A variety of 2D examples are tested using the iBESO software to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed SP-BESO method. It is found that the combination of parameters used in the scoring and drawing systems controls the formation of final structural topologies toward performance-driven or preference-driven designs. The utilization of the proposed SP-BESO method in potential practical applications is also demonstrated.}
}