• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.1335-1343
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• 2012

In this study, the lightweight modular design of hybrid railway carbody structures made of sandwich composites and aluminum extrusions was investigated by using topology and size optimization techniques. The topology optimum design was used to select the best material for parts of the carbody structure at the initial design stage, and then, the size optimum design was used to find the optimal design parameters of hybrid carbody structures using first-order and sub-problem methods. Through the topology optimization analysis, it was found that aluminum extrusions were suitable for primary members such as the underframe and lower side panel module to improve the stiffness and manufacturability of the carbody structures, and sandwich composites were appropriate for secondary members such as the roof and middle side panel module to minimize its weight. Furthermore, the results obtained by size optimization analysis showed that the weight of hybrid carbody structures composed of aluminum extrusions and sandwich composites could be reduced by a maximum of approximately 17.7% in comparison with carbody structures made of only sandwich composites.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.413-421
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• 2001

A simple procedure to add and remove material simultaneously along the boundary is developed to optimize the shape of a two dimensional elastic problems and to minimize the maximum von Mises stress. The results for the two dimensional infinite plate with a hole, are close to the theoretical results of an elliptical boundary and the stress concentration is reduced by half for the fillet problem. The proposed shape optimization method, when compared with existing derivative based shape optimization methods has many features such as simplicity, applicability, flexibility, computational efficiency and a much better control on stresses on the design boundary.

• International Journal of CAD/CAM
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• v.3 no.1_2
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• pp.19-29
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• 2003

Disassembly is a fundamental process needed for component reuse and material recycling in all assembled products. Integral attachments, also known as 'snap' fits, are favored fastening means in design for assembly (DFA) methodologies, but not necessarily a favored choice for design for disassembly. In this paper, design methods of a new class of integral attachments are proposed, where the snapped joints can be disengaged by the application of localized heat sources. The design problem of reversible integral attachments is posed as the design of compliant mechanisms actuated with localized thermal expansion of materials. Topology optimization technique is utilized to obtain conceptual layout of snap-fit mechanisms that realizes a desired deformation of snapped features for joint release. Two design approaches are attempted and design results of each approach are presented, where the geometrical configuration extracted from optimal topologies are simplified to enhance the manufacturability for the conventional injection molding technologies. To maximize the magnitude of deformation, a design scheme has been proposed to include boundary conditions as design variables. Final designs are verified using commercial software for finite element analysis.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2019

Designing sophisticate ship structures that satisfy several design criteria simultaneously with minimum weight and cost is an important engineering issue. For a ship structure composed of a shell and stiffeners, this issue is more serious because their mutual effect has to be addressed. In this study, a two-stage optimization method is proposed for the conceptual design of stiffeners in a ship's prow. In the first stage, a topology optimization method is used to determine a potential stiffener distribution based on the optimal results, whereupon stiffeners are constructed according to stiffener generative theory and the material distribution. In the second stage, size optimization is conducted to optimize the plate and stiffener sections simultaneously based on a parametric model. A final analysis model of the ship-prow structure is presented to assess the validity of this method. The analysis results show that the two-stage optimization method is effective for stiffener conceptual design, which provides a reference for designing actual stiffeners for ship hulls.

• Composites Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.211-216
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• 2023

When designing ships and aircraft structures, it is important to design them to satisfy weight reduction and strength. Currently, studies related to topology optimization using 3D printed composite materials are being actively conducted to satisfy the weight reduction and strength of the structure. In this study, structural analysis was performed to analyze the applicability of 3D printed composite materials to the flight control surface, one of the parts of an aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicle. The optimal topology shape of the flight control surface for the bending load was analyzed by considering three types (hexagonal, rectangular, triangular) of the topology shape of the flight control surface. In addition, the bending strength of the flight control surface was analyzed when four types of reinforcing materials (carbon fiber, glass fiber, high-strength high-temperature glass fiber, and kevlar) of the 3D printed composite material were applied. As a result of comparing the three-point bending test results with the finite element method results, it was confirmed that the flight control surface with hexagonal topology shape made of carbon fiber and Kevlar had excellent performance. And it is judged that the 3D printed composite can be sufficiently applied to the flight control surface.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.495-503
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• 2001

In a functionally graded materials(FGM), two constituent material particles are mixed up according to a specific volume fraction distribution so that its thermoelastic behavior is definitely characterized by such a material composition distribution. Therefore, the designer should determine the most suitable volume fraction distribution in order to design a FGM that optimally meets the desired performance against the given constraints. In this paper, we address a numerical optimization procedure, with employing interior penalty function method(IPFM) and FDM, for optimizing 2D volume fractions of heat-resisting FGMs composed of metal and ceramic. We discretize a FGM domain into finite number of homogenized rectangular cells of single design variable in order for the optimization efficiency. However, after the optimization process, we interpolate the discontinuous volume fraction with globally continuous bilinear function in order to enforce the continuity of volume fraction distributions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.447-456
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• 1999

This paper presents a solution method, which can be regarded as the further extension of the generalized evolutionary method (Zhao et al. 1998a), for the simultaneous optimization of several different natural frequencies of a structure in general and a two dimensional structure in particular. The main function of the present method is to optimize the topology of a structure so as to simultaneously make several different natural frequencies of interest to be of the corresponding different desired values for the target structure. In order to develop the present method, the new contribution factor of an element is proposed to consider the contribution of an element to the gaps between the currently calculated values for the different natural frequencies of interest and their corresponding desired values in a weighted manner. Using this new contribution factor of an element, the most inefficiently used material can be detected and removed gradually from the design domain of a structure. Through applying the present method to optimize two and three different natural frequencies of a two dimensional structure, it has been demonstrated that it is possible and applicable to use the generalized evolutionary method for tackling the simultaneous optimization of several different natural frequencies of a structure in the structural design.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.76-84
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• 2021

In this study, an optimal stiffness model of the C-frame, which was supporting the mold and tool load, was proposed to obtain quality self-piercing riveting (SPR) joining. First, the load path acting on the C-frame structure was identified using topology optimization. Then, a final suggested model was proposed based on the load path results. Stiffness and strength analyses were performed for a rivet pressing force of 7.3 [t] to compare the design performance of the final proposed model with that of the initial model. Moreover, to examine the reliability of continuous and repeated processes, vibration analysis was performed and the dynamic stiffness of the final proposed model was reviewed. Additionally, fatigue analysis was performed to ascertain the fatigue characteristics due to simple repetitive loading. Finally, stiffness test was performed for the final proposed model to verify the analysis results. The obtained results differed from the analysis result by 2.9%. Consequently, the performance of the final proposed model was superior to that of the initial model with respect to not only the SPR fastening quality but also the reliability of continuous and repetitive processes.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.57-62
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• 2019

The seat back frame of the vehicle is subjected to load on the passenger behavior. Because of steel material, it is necessary to optimize the frame considering lightweight and safety. In this paper, finite element analysis is used for the optimal design of the seat back frame. First, a lightweight material is applied to reduce the weight of the seat back frame. Secondly, the design position of the pipe part fastened in the seat back frame was selected by considering the strength against the load generated by the occupant. Third, the shape of the side frame was derived by performing the phase optimization analysis for the AFT load condition. And we have compared the initial model with the optimal model to verify the light weighting and safety. As a result, the optimal design model of the seat back frame satisfying the weight reduction and safety has been proposed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.565-576
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• 1997

The material-based homogenization design method generates arbitrary topologies of initial structural design as well as reinforcement structural design by controlling the amount of material available. However, if a small volume constraint is specified in the design of Lightweight structures, thin and slender structures are usually obtained. For these structures stability becomes one of the most important requirements. Thus, to prevent overall buckling (that is, to increase stability), the objective of the design is to maximize the buckling load of a structure. In this paper, the buckling analysis is restricted to the linear buckling behavior of a structure. The global stability requirement is defined as a stiffness constraint, and determined by solving the eigenvalue problem. The optimality conditions to update the design variables are derived based on the sequential convex approximation method and the dual method. Illustrated examples are presented to validate the feasibility of this method in the design of structures.