Andrew Panasyuk Mechatronics Engineer
Ab Wheel
Personal Project, 2023
I designed and printed this ab wheel for home exercise.
I used this project to experiment with the SolidWorks Topology Optimization tool. Topology optimization is a lightweighting method that works by removing volume that contributes least to the strength of a part under a given loading.
The resulting optimized part tends to have a smooth, organic shape with uniform stress under that loading condition.
Finished assembled wheel
Highlight 1 - Flyaround
Here's a basic turntable video of the finished wheel done in SolidWorks Visualize.
As you may see, I performed the optimization on only 1/5 of one side of the wheel - the same geometry is patterned 5 times in a circle and mirrored across the center plane.
Topology optimization is a computationally heavy process, so simplifying the simulation as much as possible while keeping full detail in the loading condition is desirable.
I chose 5 because it is a cool number. 4, 6, and 7 are also sorta cool, but 4 and 6 are overrated. 7 is a little weird.
SW Visualize Turntable.