• Computational Structural Engineering : An International Journal
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2001

The general topology optimization can be considered as optimal material distribution. Such an approach can be unstable, unless composite materials are introduced. In this research, a nodal volume fraction method is used to obtain the optimum topology of continuum structures. This method is conducted from a composite material model composed of isotropic matter and spherical void. Because the appearance of the chessboard patterns makes the interpretation of the optimal material layout very difficult, this method contains a chessboard prevention strategy. In this research, several topology optimization problems are presented to demonstrate the validity of the present method and the recursive quadratic programming algorithm is used to solve the topology optimization problems.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.281-289
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• 2009

Topology optimization has been widely used for the optimal structure design for weight reduction and high performance. Since the result of three-dimensional topology optimization is represented by the discrete material distribution in finite elements, it is hard to interpret from a design point of view. In this paper, the method for interpreting three-dimensional topology optimization resuIt into a series of cross-sectional curve representation is proposed and interfaced with the existing CAD system for the practical use. The concept of node density and virtual grid is introduced to transform element density values into grid density and material boundaries in each cross section are identified based on the element volume rate to satisfy the amount of material specified in the original design intent. Design exampIes show that three-dimensional topology result can be converted into a form of curve CAD model and the seamless interface with CAD software can be achieved.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.58 no.10
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• pp.1936-1941
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• 2009

This paper deals with a new methodology for topology optimization in which the topology of the design domain may change during the shape optimization process. To achieve this, the concept of the topological gradient is introduced to compute the sensitivity of an objective function when a small hole is drilled in the domain. Based on shape and topological sensitivity values, the shape and topology of the design domain may be simultaneously changed during design iterations if necessary. To verify the advantages and also to facilitate understanding of the method itself, two electrostatic design problems have been tested by using 2D finite element analysis: the first is the inverse problem of a simple dielectric model and the second is the rotor design of a MEMS actuator.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.79-94
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• 2010

This study shows how uncertainties of data like material properties quantitatively have an influence on structural topology optimization results for dynamic problems, here such as both optimal topology and shape. In general, the data uncertainties may result in uncertainties of structural behaviors like deflection or stress in structural analyses. Therefore optimization solutions naturally depend on the uncertainties in structural behaviors, since structural behaviors estimated by the structural analysis method like FEM need to execute optimization procedures. In order to quantitatively estimate the effect of data uncertainties on topology optimization solutions of dynamic problems, a so-called interval analysis is utilized in this study, and it is a well-known non-stochastic approach for uncertainty estimate. Topology optimization is realized by using a typical SIMP method, and for dynamic problems the optimization seeks to maximize the first-order eigenfrequency subject to a given material limit like a volume. Numerical applications topologically optimizing dynamic wall structures with varied supports are studied to verify the non-stochastic interval analysis is also suitable to estimate topology optimization results with dynamic problems.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2007

A material mixing method to obtain an optimal topology for a structure in a thermal environment was suggested. This method is based on Evolutionary Structural Optimization(ESO). The proposed material mixing method extends the ESO method to a mixing several materials for a structure in the multicriteria optimization of thermal flux and thermal stress. To do this, the multiobjective optimization technique was implemented. The overall efficiency of material usage was measured in terms of the combination of thermal stress levels and heat flux densities by using a combination strategy with weighting factors. Also, a smoothing scheme was implemented to suppress the checkerboard pattern in the procedure of topology optimization. It is concluded that ESO method with a smoothing scheme is effectively applied to topology optimization. Optimal topologies having multiple thermal criteria for a printed circuit board(PCB) substrate were presented to illustrate validity of the suggested material mixing method. It was found that the suggested method works very well for the multicriteria topology optimization.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.3
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• pp.267-280
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• 2022

Multiscale structure has attracted significant interest due to its high stiffness/strength to weight ratios and multifunctional performance. However, most of the existing concurrent topology optimization works are carried out under deterministic load conditions. Hence, this paper proposes a robust concurrent topology optimization method based on the bidirectional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) method for the design of structures composed of periodic microstructures subjected to uncertain dynamic loads. The robust objective function is defined as the weighted sum of the mean and standard deviation of the module of dynamic structural compliance with constraints are imposed to both macro- and microscale structure volume fractions. The polynomial chaos expansion (PCE) method is used to quantify and propagate load uncertainty to evaluate the objective function. The effective properties of microstructure is evaluated by the numerical homogenization method. To release the computation burden, the decoupled sensitivity analysis method is proposed for microscale design variables. The proposed method is a non-intrusive method, and it can be conveniently extended to many topology optimization problems with other distributions. Several numerical examples are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed robust concurrent topology optimization method.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.569-585
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• 2023

This paper proposes an efficient approach for the structural topology optimization of bi-directional functionally graded structures by incorporating popular radial basis functions (RBFs) into an implicit level set (ILS) method. Compared to traditional element density-based methods, a level set (LS) description of material boundaries produces a smoother boundary description of the design. The paper develops RBF implicit modeling with multiquadric (MQ) splines, thin-plate spline (TPS), exponential spline (ES), and Gaussians (GS) to define the ILS function with high accuracy and smoothness. The optimization problem is formulated by considering RBF-based nodal densities as design variables and minimizing the compliance objective function. A LS-RBF optimization method is proposed to transform a Hamilton-Jacobi partial differential equation (PDE) into a system of coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) over the entire design domain using a collocation formulation of the method of lines design variables. The paper presents detailed mathematical expressions for BiDFG beams topology optimization with two different material models: continuum functionally graded (CFG) and mechanical functionally graded (MFG). Several numerical examples are presented to verify the method's efficiency, reliability, and success in accuracy, convergence speed, and insensitivity to initial designs in the topology optimization of two-dimensional (2D) structures. Overall, the paper presents a novel and efficient approach to topology optimization that can handle bi-directional functionally graded structures with complex geometries.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.108-113
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• 2002

This paper presents a multi-step structural design optimization method fur machine tool structures using a genetic algorithm with dynamic penalty. The first step is a sectional topology optimization, which is to determine the best sectional construction that minimize the structural weight and the compliance responses subjected to some constraints. The second step is a static design optimization, in which the weight and the static compliance response are minimized under some dimensional and safety constraints. The third step is a dynamic design optimization, where the weight static compliance, and dynamic compliance of the structure are minimized under the same constraints. The proposed design method was examined on the 10-bar truss problem of topology and sizing optimization. And the results showed that our solution is better than or just about the same as the best one of the previous researches. Furthermore, we applied this method to the topology and sizing optimization of a crossbeam slider for a high-speed machining center. The topology optimization result gives the best desirable cross-section shape whose weight was reduced by 38.8% than the original configuration. The subsequent static and dynamic design optimization reduced the weight, static and dynamic compliances by 5.7 %, 2.1% and 19.1% respectively from the topology-optimized model. The examples demonstrated the feasibility of the suggested design optimization method.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2002.07b
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• pp.598-600
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• 2002

The magnet design is investigated by using the topology optimization and FEM. The design sensitivity equation for topology optimization is derived using the adjoint variable method and the continuum approach. The proposed method is applied to the topology optimization of C-core.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2002.07b
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• pp.726-728
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• 2002

The topology optimization of electromagnetic systems with two materials is investigated using the FEM. The design sensitivity equation for topology optimization is derived using the adjoint variable method and the continuum approach. The proposed method is applied to the topology optimization of C-core and compared to previous study with one material.