modeFRONTIER vs OpenLSTO

modeFRONTIER automates engineering simulation workflows and design optimisation by connecting third-party CAD/CAE software with in-house solvers. It combines multiple engineering disciplines in unified workflows and allows several optimisation strategies in one project file. Design exploration includes design of experiments, response surface models, multi-objective optimisation, robust design, reliability analysis and uncertainty quantification. Surrogate models, machine-learning algorithms and reduced-order models support data-driven modelling; ESTECO identifies pilOPT as its proprietary self-adaptive optimisation algorithm. Integrations include parametric solvers and custom connectors for Abaqus, Adams, ANSYS Workbench, CATIA and ANSA. pyFRONTIER and pyCONSOLE connect Python workflows, including scikit-learn and SciPy optimize libraries. Workflows can run in parallel, on local grid computing, or through remote HPC and cloud resources. VOLTA adds collaboration, distributed execution and result traceability. Pricing is on request, with academic licences limited to non-commercial or academic use.

OpenLSTO is open-source C++ software for structural topology optimization using a level set method. It seeks to minimize compliance, or maximize stiffness, within a volume constraint in a two-dimensional design domain. Developed and maintained by researchers at UC San Diego and Cardiff University, the described first light version is limited to that 2D problem. It runs through command-line arguments in a terminal; simple serial cases without external libraries can be compiled and executed with a C++ compiler. OpenLSTO produces.vtk solution files that ParaView can read, so users need a data visualization tool for post-processing. The project favors in-house components where possible and is available under the Apache 2.0 license. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, with repository-clone and ZIP download options. The software is free: the OpenLSTO plan is free. The project says expanded capabilities using externally provided software are planned for a more advanced version.