Multi-body System Simulation with FEATool Multiphysics for Design of Optical Grating Tiling Devices

A grating tiling device is an optical element which can separate light

into different wavelength components. Such devices are for example

used in spectroscopy, and in optical laser devices for fusion

confinement. Due to the high sensitivity and precision required in

these devices, stability with respect to vibrations and temperature is

of the most important aspects in their design.

Modeling and design of grating devices using traditional finite

element analysis (FEA) require increasing computational effort, and is

often limited by available computing capabilities. In the last two

decades, multi-body system (MBS) simulations have instead become the

most effective tool in modeling and analysis of such complex

mechanical systems.

, and its

native MATLAB® FEA API, to develop a new efficient process for

design of tiled grating devices. The authors suggest and explore an

alternative MBS procedure in order to obtain an efficient design cycle

(labeled dynamics for design DFD), by integrating the dynamics of

interconnected systems, including nonlinearities, vibration analysis,

and parameter estimation, with current design methodologies.

Specifically, a multi-body dynamics approach was used to calculate

reaction forces acting on the flexible and flexure bodies of the

grating tiling device. This approach defined a parametric feedback

loop in MATLAB, where forces where used as input to a FEATool

Multiphysics stress-strain structural mechanics script model in each

iteration of the loop.

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Journal of Applied Sciences, 11(24), 11716, 2021, doi: 10.3390/app112411716.