A simple and versatile topology optimization formulation for flexure synthesis

High-tech equipment critically relies on flexures for precise manipulation and measurement. Through elastic deformation, flexures offer extreme position repeatability within a limited range of motion in their degrees of freedom, while constraining motion in the degrees of constraint. Topology optimization proves a prospective tool for the...

A stress-based criterion to identify and control intersections in 2D compliance minimization topology optimization

Topology optimization typically generates designs that exhibit significant geometrical complexity, which can pose difficulties for manufacturing and assembly. The number of occurrences of an important design feature, in particular intersections, increases with geometrical complexity. Intersections are essential for load transfer in many...

On process-step parallel computability and linear superposition of mechanical responses in additive manufacturing process simulation

We study linearity assumptions in the transient macroscale mechanical aspect of additive manufacturing (AM) process simulation. Linearity assumptions are often resorted to in combination with calibrated inelastic deformation components to arrive at computationally tractable yet reasonably accurate AM process models. We point out that...

An improved stress recovery technique for low-order 3D finite elements

In this paper, we propose a stress recovery procedure for low-order finite elements in 3D. For each finite element, the recovered stress field is obtained by satisfying equilibrium in an average sense and by projecting the directly calculated stress field onto a conveniently chosen space. Compared with existing recovery techniques, the...

A unified aggregation and relaxation approach for stress-constrained topology optimization

In this paper, we propose a unified aggregation and relaxation approach for topology optimization with stress constraints. Following this approach, we first reformulate the original optimization problem with a design-dependent set of constraints into an equivalent optimization problem with a fixed design-independent set of constraints. The next...

Damage approach: A new method for topology optimization with local stress constraints

In this paper, we propose a new method for topology optimization with local stress constraints. In this method, material in which a stress constraint is violated is considered as damaged. Since damaged material will contribute less to the overall performance of the structure, the optimizer will promote a design with a minimal amount of damaged...