Creating Polytope Representation of Design Spaces for Visual Exploration Using Consistency Technique

A polytope-based representation is presented to approximate the feasible space of a design concept that is described mathematically using constraints. A method for constructing such design spaces is also introduced. Constraints include equality and inequality relationships between design variables and performance parameters. The design space is represented as a finite set of (at most) 3-dimensional (possibly non-convex) polytopes, i.e., points, intervals, polygons (both open and closed) and polyhedra (both open and closed). These polytopes approximate the locally connected design space around an initial feasible point. The algorithm for constructing the design space is developed by adapting consistency algorithm for polytope representations.Copyright © 2009 by ASME