Abstract
Topological optimization is an innovative method to realize the lightweight design. This paper proposes a hybrid topology optimization method that combines the SIMP (solid isotropic material with penalization) method and genetic algorithm (GA), called the SIMP-GA method. In the method, SIMP is used to update the chromosomes, which can accelerate convergence. The filtering scheme in the SIMP method can filter unconnected elements to ensure the connectivity of the structure. We studied the influence of varying the filtering radius on the optimized structure. Simultaneously, in the SIMP-GA method, each element is regarded as a gene, which controls the population number to a certain extent, reduces the amount of calculation, and improves the calculation efficiency. The calculation of some typical examples proves that the SIMP-GA method can obtain a better solution than the gradient-based method. Compared with the conventional genetic algorithm and GA-BESO (Bi-directional Evolutionary Structural Optimization) method, the calculation efficiency of the proposed method is higher and similar results are obtained. The innovative topology optimization method could be an effective way for structural lightweight design.
Highlights
With the development of society, in some specific fields, structural lightweight design is the most effective way to improve technical indicators, such as aerospace, automobiles, ships, bridges, and other construction industries
We propose a new topology optimization method to overcome the calculation costs required by the genetic algorithm
We proposed a novel topology optimization method to help lightweight design
Summary
With the development of society, in some specific fields, structural lightweight design is the most effective way to improve technical indicators, such as aerospace, automobiles, ships, bridges, and other construction industries. With the development of computer technology, structural optimization, especially structural topology optimization, is increasingly used in these fields to improve structural lightweight design. Topological optimization is an innovative structural optimization method that can find an optimal material layout under specified conditions rapidly. It is of great significance for guiding structural design to realize the lightweight design. Genetic algorithms [12,13] are constantly developing and are gradually being applied in topology optimization [14]
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