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Free-Form Shape Optimization using CAD Models

The current state of the art in shape optimization is dominated by approaches utilizing computer-aided design (CAD) to manipulate the shape under consideration. On the contrary, free-form shape optimization approaches have not reached the same industrial acceptance, although for example the Vertex Morphing Method showed with many practical problems promising characteristics like high optimization potential, minimum modeling effort or fast design space exploration (see e.g. [1], [2]). One major reason for this limited popularity of free-form shape optimization techniques is their missing link to CAD being the primary design tool in many industrial branches. More precisely, while it is common practice to discretize an initial CAD-model so that a numerical optimization may be performed, it is far from trivial to reconstruct a CAD-model once the discrete optimal design is found - unless the original CAD parametric is used to modify the shape in the first place. The latter, however, depending on the case, may limit the optimization significantly. In the following, we present a novel workflow which may close the existing gap between free-form shape optimization and CAD.