Contributions of generative design tools to mechanical design

Mechanical design and manufacturing methods are adapting to the tools available. In recent years, technological progress has allowed engineers and designers to arm themselves with both new manufacturing techniques and new shape optimization methods. First of all, this work describes what generative design is: a new type of mechanical optimization method that has appeared in the last few years, which uses the computational power of computers to reproduce evolution as observed in living beings. These new methods call for modifications to the classic mechanical design process as we know it today and require profound changes in the organization of the companies that embrace them. However, this new way of designing shapes promises very interesting gains in time and performance. After clarifying the general idea of the concept and giving some concrete examples, this thesis describes a practical case study in which an optimization study using generative design was conducted. The subject of the case study is the optimization of the mass of a part of the ELSA prosthesis, an active ankle prosthesis developed at the UCLouvain for lower limb amputees. Finally, a critique of the different results is made, with a perspective of the contributions observed during the studies.