An optimization is an iterative process that modifies the structure of your model while it searches for an optimized solution given a set of objectives and constraints that must be satisfied. This section briefly describes the components of an optimization that you can create with the Abaqus/CAE Topology Optimization Module. For more detailed information, see “Structural optimization: overview,” Section 13.1.1 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Manual.

The following topics are covered:

• “About tasks,” Section 18.3.1

• “About design responses,” Section 18.3.2

• “About objective functions,” Section 18.3.3

• “About constraints,” Section 18.3.4

• “About geometric restrictions,” Section 18.3.5

• “About stop conditions,” Section 18.3.6

• “About optimization processes,” Section 18.3.7