Optimisation of the design of a component

Abstract

A method of optimising the design of a component is provided, in which a set of principal design variants is generated, the variants having design parameters which are common to all design variants of the set and some which differ between variants. Subsets of secondary design variants are generated by a computer executed rule based geometry engine, the subsets comprising at least one secondary design variant, generated by modifying at least one design parameter or design variable of the principal design variant.

1 . A method of optimising the design of a component, in which method a set of principal design variants is generated, the principal design variants having design parameters which are common to all principal design variants of the set and having design variables which differ between the principal design variants of the set, the method further comprising generating at least one secondary design variant from at least one of the principal design variants by modifying at least one of the design parameters or the design variants of the at least one principal design variant.  
   
   
       2 . A method of optimising the design of a component as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one secondary design variant is generated by a computer executed rule based geometry engine.  
   
   
       3 . A method of optimising the design of a component as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein an analysis model representing at least one of the principal design variants or the at least one secondary design variant is generated, and wherein input conditions are applied to the analysis models to determine the behaviour of the design variant.  
   
   
       4 . A method of optimising the design of a component as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the generation of the principal design variants comprises an iterative process responsive to output data from the analysis models.  
   
   
       5 . A method of optimising the design of a component as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one secondary design variant is derived from the principal design variant by applying a mathematical operation to at least one of the design parameters or at least one of the design variables of the at least one principal design variant.  
   
   
       6 . A method of optimising the design of a component as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one secondary design variant represents a component made to the design at a tolerance limit.  
   
   
       7 . A method of optimising the design of a component as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one secondary design variant, represents a component failure.  
   
   
       8 . A method of optimising the design of a component as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one secondary design variant, represents damage to a component made to the design.  
   
   
       9 . A method of optimising the design of a component as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one secondary design variant represents a simplified geometry based on feature or dimension reduction.  
   
   
       10 . A method of optimising the design of a component as claimed in  claim 1 , and substantially as described herein.  
   
   
       11 . A method of manufacturing a component, the method comprising: 
 (a) optimising the design of the component by a method in accordance with  claim 1;     (b) manufacturing the component in accordance with the optimised design.    
   
   
       12 . A method of manufacturing a component as claimed in  claim 11 , in which the component is a component of a gas turbine engine.  
   
   
       13 . A method as claimed in  claim 11 , in which the component is a turbine blade having a fir tree root, the design of at least the fir tree root being optimised by said method.  
   
   
       14 . A component having a design optimised by a method in accordance with  claim 1 .  
   
   
       15 . A computer program product comprising code for carrying out a method of optimising the design of a component as claimed in  claim 1 .  
   
   
       16 . A computer system adapted to carry out a method as claimed in  claim 1.