Strategies and Generative Design Towards the Development of Innovative Products

Additive manufacturing has become an advanced processing method to fabricate highly customized devices with tailored functional properties, complex geometries, and architectural features. In this scenario, design strategies are currently leading to a wide range of possibilities to search for the optimal solution or a set of optimal solutions for the design of 3D additive manufactured structures with suitable functional properties according to the considered application. Topology optimization and generative design may be considered very powerful tools to create optimized designs. Furthermore, creative solutions to the design problems may be provided by the biological knowledge, which represents a source of inspiration for the designers. A creative bioinspired design method may allow the extraction of innovative wisdoms from biological prototypes and their integration into several technological domains, thus creating an innovative product. Accordingly, the present chapter first introduces some considerations on the role of CAD tools in providing a support for the ideation process through the generation of design alternatives in agreement with the designer’s criteria, and describes the state of the art of the generative design methods in different application fields. The terminology and the application of the biological knowledge in engineering innovation are reviewed, and the potential of biologically inspired design methods is stressed as they go beyond both biomimicry and biomimetics. The importance of combining additive manufacturing and reverse engineering is also briefly emphasized. Furthermore, focusing on a specific case study, the potential of topology optimization and generative design methods are reported, also evidencing technical features and differences.