• International Journal of CAD/CAM
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.61-69
• /
• 2007

The objective of this work is to integrate reliability analysis into topology optimization problems. We introduce the reliability constraint in the topology optimization formulation, and the new model is called Reliability-Based Topology Optimization (RBTO). The application of the RBTO model gives a different topology relative to the classical topology optimization that should be deterministic. When comparing the structures resulting from the deterministic topology optimization and from the RBTO model, the RBTO model yields structures that are more reliable than the deterministic ones (for the same weight). Several applications show the importance of this integration.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.51 no.1
• /
• pp.39-66
• /
• 2014

This study deals with the design of bridge girder structures and consists of two parts. In the first part an optimal bridge girder topology is determined using a software based on structure compliance minimization with constraints imposed on the body mass, developed by the authors. In the second part, an original way in which the topology is mapped into a bridge girder structure is shown. Additionally, a method of converting the thickness of the bars obtained using the topology optimization procedure into cross sections is introduced. Moreover, stresses and material consumption for a girder design obtained through topology optimization and a typical truss girder are compared. Concluding, this paper shows that topology optimization is a good tool for obtaining optimal bridge girder designs.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2001.10a
• /
• pp.183-190
• /
• 2001

Topology optimization. has been evolved into a very efficient conceptual design tool and has been utilized into design engineering processes in many industrial parts. In recent years, topology optimization has become the focus of structural optimization design and has been researched and widely applied both in academy and industry. Traditional topology optimization has been using homogenization method and optimality criteria method. Homogenization method provides relationship equation between structure which includes many holes and stiffness matrix in FEM. Optimality criteria method is used to update design variables while maintaining that volume fraction is uniform. Traditional topology optimization has advantage of good convergence but has disadvantage of too much convergency time and additive checkerboard prevention algorithm is needed. In one way to solve this problem, element remove method is presented. Then, it is applied to many examples. From the results, it is verified that the time of convergence is very improved and optimal designed results is obtained very similar to the results of traditional topology using 8 nodes per element.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.1389-1410
• /
• 2016

This paper proposes a hybrid of topological derivative-based level set method (LSM) and isogeometric analysis (IGA) for structural topology optimization. In topology optimization a significant drawback of the conventional LSM is that it cannot create new holes in the design domain. In this study, the topological derivative approach is used to create new holes in appropriate places of the design domain, and alleviate the strong dependency of the optimal topology on the initial design. Furthermore, the values of the gradient vector in Hamilton-Jacobi equation in the conventional LSM are replaced with a Delta function. In the topology optimization procedure IGA based on Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) functions is utilized to overcome the drawbacks in the conventional finite element method (FEM) based topology optimization approaches. Several numerical examples are provided to confirm the computational efficiency and robustness of the proposed method in comparison with derivative-based LSM and FEM.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.55 no.5
• /
• pp.901-911
• /
• 2015

The goal of this study is to investigate computational convergence of optimal solutions, with respect to optimality criteria (OC) method and methods of moving asymptotes (MMA) as optimization model for non-linear programming of material topology optimization using an acceleration method that makes design variables rapidly move toward almost 0 and 1 values. 99 line topology optimization MATLAB code uses loop vectorization and memory pre-allocation as properly exploiting the strengths of MATLAB and moves portions of code out of the optimization loop so that they are only executed once as restructuring the program. Numerical examples of a simple beam under a lateral load and a given material density limitation provide merits and demerits of the present OC and MMA for 99 line topology optimization code of continuous material topology optimization design.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.683-691
• /
• 2010

In this paper, using an adjoint variable method, we develop a design sensitivity analysis(DSA) method applicable to heat conduction problems in steady state. Also, a topology design optimization method is developed using the developed DSA method. Design sensitivity expressions with respect to the thermal conductivity are derived. Since the already factorized system matrix is utilized to obtain the adjoint solution, the cost for the sensitivity computation is trivial. For the topology design optimization, the design variables are parameterized into normalized bulk material densities. The objective function and constraint are the thermal compliance of structures and allowable material volume respectively. Through several numerical examples, the developed DSA method is verified to yield very accurate sensitivity results compared with finite difference ones, requiring less than 0.25% of CPU time for the finite differencing. Also, the topology optimization yields physical meaningful results.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.33 no.12
• /
• pp.1401-1409
• /
• 2009

All the forces in the real world act dynamically on structures. Design and analysis should be performed based on the dynamic loads for the safety of structures. Dynamic (transient or vibrational) responses have many peaks in the time domain. Topology optimization, which gives an excellent conceptual design, mainly has been performed with static loads. In topology optimization, the number of design variables is quite large and considering the peaks is fairly costly. Topology optimization in the frequency domain has been performed to consider the dynamic effects; however, it is not sufficient to fully include the dynamic characteristics. In this research, linear dynamic response topology optimization is performed in the time domain. First, the necessity of topology optimization to directly consider the dynamic loads is verified by identifying the relationship between the natural frequency of a structure and the excitation frequency. When the natural frequency of a structure is low, the dynamic characteristics (inertia effect) should be considered. The equivalent static loads (ESLs) method is proposed for linear dynamic response topology optimization. ESLs are made to generate the same response field as that from dynamic loads at each time step of dynamic response analysis. The method was originally developed for size and shape optimizations. The original method is expanded to topology optimization under dynamic loads. At each time step of dynamic analysis, ESLs are calculated and ESLs are used as the external loads in static response topology optimization. The results of topology optimization are used to update the design variables (density of finite elements) and the updated design variables are used in dynamic analysis in a cyclic manner until the convergence criteria are satisfied. The updating rules and convergence criteria in the ESLs method are newly proposed for linear dynamic response topology optimization. The proposed updating rules are the artificial material method and the element elimination method. The artificial material method updates the material property for dynamic analysis at the next cycle using the results of topology optimization. The element elimination method is proposed to remove the element which has low density when static topology optimization is finished. These proposed methods are applied to some examples. The results are discussed in comparison with conventional linear static response topology optimization.

• Journal of Magnetics
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.283-288
• /
• 2013

This paper presents structural topology optimization that is being applied for the design of electromagnetic vibration energy harvester. The design goal is to maximize the root-mean-square value of output voltage generated by external vibration leading structures. To calculate the output voltage, the magnetic field analysis is performed by using the finite element method, and the obtained magnetic flux linkage is interpolated by using Lagrange polynomials. To achieve the design goal, permanent magnet is designed by using topology optimization. The analytical design sensitivity is derived from the adjoint variable method, and the formulated optimization problem is solved through the method of moving asymptotes (MMA). As optimization results, the optimal location and shape of the permanent magnet are provided when the magnetization direction is fixed. In addition, the optimization results including the design of magnetization direction are provided.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.691-697
• /
• 2010

Reliability-based topology optimization (RBTO) is to get an optimal topology satisfying uncertainties of design variables. In this study, reliability-based topology optimization method is applied to the inner reinforcement of vehicle's hood based on BESO. A multi-objective topology optimization technique was implemented to obtain optimal topology of the inner reinforcement of the hood. considering the static stiffness of bending and torsion as well as natural frequency. Performance measure approach (PMA), which has probabilistic constraints that are formulated in terms of the reliability index, is adopted to evaluate the probabilistic constraints. To evaluate the obtained optimal topology by RBTO, it is compared with that of DTO of the inner reinforcement of the hood. It is found that the more suitable topology is obtained through RBTO than DTO even though the final volume of RBTO is a little bit larger than that of DTO. From the result, multiobjective optimization technique based on the BESO can be applied very effectively in topology optimization for vehicle's hood reinforcement considering the static stiffness of bending and torsion as well as natural frequency.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.370-377
• /
• 2004

The density approach and the homogenization design method are representative methods in topology optimization problems. In the topology optimization in magnetic fields, those methods are applied based on the results of the applications In elastic fields. In this study, the density method is modified considering the concept of the homogenization design method. Also, the results of the topology optimization in magnetic fields by the modified density method as well as the homogenization method are compared especially focusing the change of the penalization parameter in the density approach. The effect of the definition of the design domain such as global/local design domain is also discussed.