LatticeQuery - An open-source software for modeling of lattice structures

The tool allows modeling of heterogeneous lattice structures, both beam-based and surface-based. The tool is based on the CadQuery GUI editor which allows parametric modeling with OpenCASCADE and PyQT and supports Linux, Windows and MacOS.

For the CadQuery documentation, please address its repository and official documentation.

For the description of the methodology, the corresponding research paper is suggested.

1. Installation

1.1. Requirements

Python 3.10–3.12 (Python 3.13+ is not yet supported by the cadquery dependency)
pip

1.2. Linux (Debian / Ubuntu)

Install system libraries required by Qt and Python:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y \
  python3 python3-pip python3-venv \
  libgl1 libglu1-mesa \
  libx11-xcb1 libxcb-icccm4 libxcb-image0 libxcb-keysyms1 \
  libxcb-randr0 libxcb-render-util0 libxcb-xinerama0 \
  libxkbcommon-x11-0

Then install LatticeQuery:

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
python run.py

1.3. Linux (Arch Linux)

sudo pacman -S --needed python python-pip mesa glu libx11 libxcb \
  xcb-util-wm xcb-util-image xcb-util-keysyms xcb-util-renderutil libxkbcommon

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
python run.py

1.4. macOS

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
python run.py

1.5. Windows

python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -e .
python run.py

You can also use the binary versions in the latest release.

2. Usage

Most of the functionality is located in the lq folder (stands for 'LatticeQuery'). Within the installed virtual environment, run the main Python script as follows:

python run.py

Linux (Wayland): if you are running a Wayland compositor, Qt may need to be forced to use the XCB (X11) backend:

QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb python run.py

This is set automatically when launching via run.py, so you only need the explicit override if you experience display issues.

The topologies that are implemented include:

Beam-based
- Simple cubic
- BCC
- FCC
- S-FCC
- BCCz
- FCCz
- S-FCCz
- FBCC
- S-FBCC
- S-FBCCz
- Diamond
- Rhombicuboctahedron
- Truncated cube
TPMS
- Gyroid
- Schwarz 'Primitive' (P)
- Schwarz 'Diamond' (D)

For example, modeling of a heterogeneous Schwarz P lattice with the thickness linearly changing from 0.1 to 7 is possible as follows

# Python
import cadquery as cq
from lq.topologies.schwartz import schwartz_p_heterogeneous_lattice
cq.Workplane.schwartz_p_heterogeneous_lattice = schwartz_p_heterogeneous_lattice

# BEGIN USER INPUT
unit_cell_size = 4
Nx = 10
Ny = 10
Nz = 10
min_thickness = 0.1
max_thickness = 7
# END USER INPUT

schwartz = schwartz_p_heterogeneous_lattice(unit_cell_size, min_thickness, max_thickness,
                                      Nx, Ny, Nz
                                      )

As you can see, a single function handles requires geometric arguments and handles all the modeling. The result is the following: Heterogeneous Schwartz P lattice

3. Other examples

This and many more examples of the implementation are located in the lattce_scripts directory. An example is a Python script that can be imported from within the editor (the window you see when running run.py). These examples include the geometric modeling of:

A homogeneous gyroid lattice (gyroid.py)
A conformal heterogeneous lattice filling a cylindrical tube (tire.py)
A heterogeneous FCC lattice with the linearly changing beam thickness (FCC_heterogeneous_lattice.py)
A heterogeneous BCC lattice with the beam thickness changing according to the parabolic distribution (BCC_heterogeneous_lattice.py)
A heterogeneous FCC lattice with the beam cross-section gradually changing from square to circle (changing_cross_section.py)
A heterogeneous diamond lattice with the linearly changing beam thickness (diamond.py)
A heterogeneous FBCC lattice with the linearly changing beam thickness (FBCC_heterogeneous_lattice.py)
A heterogeneous gyroid lattice with the linearly changing thickness (heterogeneous_gyroid.py)
A heterogeneous Schwarz D and P lattices with the linearly changing thickness (heterogeneous_schwartz.py)
A heterogeneous Schwarz D lattice with the thickness changing according to the periodic sine distribution (schwartz-d.py)

4. Known issues

Sometimes the modeling would fail with an error like Brep: command not done. This is often solved by passing a float argument to the function rather than an integer one. You can also try to increase the unit cell size, let's say, 10 times, and then scale it down 10 times, or increasing the mesh density.

The connection between some of the TPMS based topologies seems abrupt and has gaps in some cases. This effect should be investigated further.

LatticeQuery

Install / Use

README