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Stiffening of restrained thermal structures via topology optimization

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Abstract

The majority of work in the thermal structures field has focused on reducing or eliminating thermal stresses by accommodating thermal expansion. In the modern day, several new applications, including engine exhaust-washed structures for embedded engine aircraft, are posing new design scenarios where this prescription is not possible. Thus it becomes necessary to utilize new design techniques to solve the problem of stiffening and stress reduction in thermal structures with restrained thermal expansion. In this work, a design scenario is presented to demonstrate the challenges associated with the design of thin shell structures in a thermal environment and the breakdown of common design methodologies. These challenges include a fundamental non-intuitiveness in the design space and the design dependency that occurs with thermal loading. Three different topology optimization formulations are investigated to solve this problem. The effectiveness of each of these methods is benchmarked against one another and general recommendations are made regarding effective design solutions for restrained thermal structures.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by the Air Force Research laboratory through contract, FA8650-09-2-3938, the Collaborative Center for Multidisciplinary Sciences. The authors would also like to thank the reviewers for their thought provoking comments on this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, OH, 45435, USA

    Joshua D. Deaton & Ramana V. Grandhi

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  1. Joshua D. Deaton
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  2. Ramana V. Grandhi
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Correspondence to Joshua D. Deaton.

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Deaton, J.D., Grandhi, R.V. Stiffening of restrained thermal structures via topology optimization. Struct Multidisc Optim 48, 731–745 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00158-013-0934-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00158-013-0934-5

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