On approaches for avoiding low-stiffness regions in variable thickness sheet and homogenization-based topology optimization

Reinier Giele, Jeroen Groen, Niels Aage, Casper Schousboe Andreasen, Ole Sigmund*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    Variable thickness sheet and homogenization-based topology optimization often result in spread-out, non-well-defined solutions that are difficult to interpret or de-homogenize to sensible final designs. By extensive numerical investigations, we demonstrate that such solutions are due to non-uniqueness of solutions or at least very flat minima. Much clearer and better-defined solutions may be obtained by adding a measure of non-void space to the objective function with little if any increase in structural compliance. We discuss various alternatives for cleaning up solutions and propose two efficient approaches which both introduce an auxiliary field to control non-void space: one approach based on a cut element based auxiliary field (hybrid approach) and another approach based on an auxiliary element based field (density approach). At the end, we demonstrate significant qualitative and quantitative improvements in variable thickness sheet and de-homogenization designs resulting from the proposed cleaning schemes.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalStructural and Multidisciplinary Optimization
    Volume64
    Pages (from-to)39–52
    ISSN1615-147X
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2021

    Keywords

    • Topology optimization
    • Cut elements
    • Homogenization approach
    • Variable thickness sheet problem
    • De-homogenization

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