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One of the open issues in additive manufacturing is the design of conformal lattice structures, leading to an optimal layout of the struts in the design domain. This paper aims to compare different struts distributions in conformal lattices via low computational power methods in a CAD environment. Four approaches for a wireframe virtual model definition are presented for a simple cubic conformal lattice structure. An iterative variable diameter optimization method and two linear structural analyses based on mono-dimensional elements and different theories are compared. These verification methods widen the capability of checking the results so the user can compute the deformation of 3D periodic structures, or other visual results, without spending a huge amount of time and computational power. Results show that both the analysis methods give reliable results and the struts layout based on trivariate NURBS shows the most flexible solution allowing for a real-time variation of the boundary condition.

An important issue when designing conformal lattice structures is the geometric modeling and prediction of mechanical properties. This paper presents suitable methods for obtaining optimized conformal lattice structures and validating them without the need for high computational power and time, enabling the designer to have quick feedback in the first design phases. A wireframe modeling method based on non-uniform rational basis spline (NURBS) free-form deformation (FFD) that allows conforming a regular lattice structure inside a design space is presented. Next, a previously proposed size optimization method is adopted for optimizing the cross-sections of lattice structures. Finally, two different commercial finite element software are involved for the validation of the results, based on Euler–Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theories. The findings highlight the adaptability of the NURBS-FFD modeling approach and the reliability of the size optimization method, especially in stretching-dominated cell topologies and load conditions. At the same time, the limitation of the structural beam analysis when dealing with thick beams is noted. Moreover, the behavior of different kinds of lattices was investigated.