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Title: Toplogical optimization of structures using Fourier representations

Journal Article · · Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization
 [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

The minimization of compliance subject to a mass constraint is the topology optimization design problem of interest. The goal is to determine the optimal configuration of material within an allowed volume. Our approach builds upon the well-known density method in which the decision variable is the material density in every cell in a mesh. In it’s most basic form the density method consists of three steps: 1) the problem is convexified by replacing the integer material indicator function with a volume fraction, 2) the problem is regularized by filtering the volume fraction field to impose a minimum length scale; 3) the filtered volume fraction is penalized to steer the material distribution toward binary designs. The filtering step is used to yield a mesh-independent solution and to eliminate checkerboard instabilities. In image processing terms this is a low-pass filter, and a consequence is that the decision variables are not independent and a change of basis could significantly reduce the dimension of the nonlinear programming problem. Based on this observation, we represent the volume fraction field with a truncated Fourier representation. Furthermore, this imposes a minimal length scale on the problem, eliminates checkerboard instabilities, and also reduces the number of decision variables by over 100 × (two dimensions) or 1000 × (three dimensions).

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1479078
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-736779; 889675
Journal Information:
Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, Vol. 58, Issue 3; ISSN 1615-147X
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 14 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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