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Multi-material topology optimization based on multiple simp of variable density method

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Abstract

There are many methods for solving the topology optimization problem of single-material. It is a great challenge how to utilize existing methods or make appropriate improvements to solve multi-material topology optimization problems. In this paper, a multiple solid isotropic material with penalization model (SIMP) of variable density method is proposed to solve the problem of multi-material topology optimization. All candidate materials, including void material, are arranged in descending order of elastic modulus. The material conversion scheme of multiple SIMP is based on the elastic modulus of the candidate material after interpolation. The iterative criterion of multi-material topology optimization is derived from the Kuhn-Tucker condition using the guide-weight method. The innovation of this paper is to transform the multi-material topology optimization problem into multiple SIMP of the variable density method. Three examples show that it is effective and moderate to use the proposed method to solve the problem of multi-material topology optimization.

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely thank Professor Qicai Zhou of Tongji University for his critical discussion and reading during manuscript preparation. The authors would like to acknowledge the supports given by the agricultural application basic research project of Suzhou (Project No. SNG2021036), 3C-Product Intelligent Manufacturing Engineering Technology Research and Development center of Jiangsu province (Project No. 201801000010), talent project of Suzhou Vocational University (Project Nos. SNG 2021036 202105000008 and 202205000016) and the teaching reform project of Suzhou Vocational University (Project No. SZDJG-23009).

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Correspondence to Liang Lv.

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Changdong Wan received the M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Xihua University, Chengdu, China, in 2006, He is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering, Suzhou Vocational University, China. His research interests include structural lightweight design.

Hongyu Jiao is currently an Associate Pro-fessor of Automotive Engineering, Changshu Institute of Technology, China. He received his Ph.D. from Tongji University, China, in 2015. His research interests include structural lightweight design.

Liang Lv received his Ph.D. in China University of Petroleum in 2019 and is currently a lecturer at the School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering, Suzhou Vocational University, China. His research interests include fluid machinery, cavitation and bubble dynamics.

Chunyan Lu is currently a lecturer at School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering, Suzhou Vocational University, China. Her research interests include structural lightweight design.

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Wan, C., Jiao, H., Lv, L. et al. Multi-material topology optimization based on multiple simp of variable density method. J Mech Sci Technol 38, 749–759 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-024-0124-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-024-0124-y

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