Most HyperX sizing happens at the Zone level: an engineer defines a region of the structure using FEM-based property/section definitions, and HyperX sizes that region to a single uniform design. This process is computationally efficient and tends to better reflect how the structure is to be manufactured, and how the structure relates to other parts around it. But this isn't always the most weight-efficient answer — a Zone boundary is a modeling convenience, not necessarily where the load actually necessitates the material to change. HyperX's Element Optimization capability offers a finer-grained alternative, sizing on a per-element basis so the design can follow the load path more closely before being redrawn into practical, manufacturable Zones.
While the use-case and respective inputs and outputs are fairly intuitive to understand, what can be confusing is the actual sizing and margin implications between the two concepts. Zone-based optimization still relies on element-by-element loads, and element-by-element margins can still be written to a zone-based sizing result.
The sections below attempt to clarify using a single panel, or selection of 2D finite elements, as reference.
In both cases, sizing begins with the element-by-element force vectors resulting from the FEA solution - it is the sizing result that differentiates the two.
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Element Optimization Results
Element optimization sizes each element with respect to the loads from its own load vector, (possibly) resulting in a different design for each individual element.
Note
These element-by-element design results can be used to generate more organize zone-boundaries by doing a Zone Pattern Optimization.
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Zone Optimization Results
Zone optimization performs a load processing step first, which translates the element-by-element load input into a single vector of critical, zone-level loads. The entire zone is then sized with respect to that load vector, resulting in a single design for all elements in the zone.
HyperX has several different loads processing techniques for identifying the critical zone-level loads for sizing, including an element-based technique. More on this topic can be found here: FEA Loads Processing.
Both approaches (can) result in an element-based margin plot, in which a margin of safety is written for each element. The difference is the loads and designs used to write those margins.
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Element Optimization Results
The margins of safety resulting from element optimization are written with respect to each element's individual loads and corresponding design.
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Zone Optimization Results
The margins of safety resulting from zone optimization are written with respect to each element's individual loads, but to the zone-level design.
Note
Element-based margin plots are only available for zone optimization if sizing with the Element-Based Loads Processing technique.