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Topology establishment, form finding, and mechanical optimization of branching structures

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Abstract

Branching structures have begun to attract the attention of engineering designers because of their novel appearances and high structural efficiency. The establishment of topology, the analysis of form, and the optimization of cross-sectional area combination should first be addressed in the design of branching structures. The method presented here can be adopted for the systematic design, analysis, and optimization of branching structures. This work was conducted on the basis of the general finite element code and can be easily mastered by engineering designers without the burden of tedious programming work.

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Acknowledgements

The work presented in this paper was financially supported by the Project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2017M621156) and the State Key Research Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2016YFC0801404, 2016YFC0600704).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Liaoning Technical University, Fuxin, 123000, China

    Zhongwei Zhao & Haiqing Liu

  2. School of Mechanics and Engineering, Liaoning Technical University, Fuxin, 123000, China

    Bing Liang

Authors
  1. Zhongwei Zhao
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  2. Bing Liang
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  3. Haiqing Liu
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Correspondence to Zhongwei Zhao.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Technical Editor: Paulo de Tarso Rocha de Mendonça, Ph.D.

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Zhao, Z., Liang, B. & Liu, H. Topology establishment, form finding, and mechanical optimization of branching structures. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 40, 539 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-018-1461-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-018-1461-5

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