Lightweighting structures using an explicit microarchitectured material framework

Abstract

In this paper, a new approach to design ultralight structures is developed based on a previous work called Efficient Multiscale Topology Optimization. A parameterized (or explicit) truss-based cell is introduced to generate intrinsically well-connected microstructures and to get clear interpretable optimal multiscale structures. The method uses a pre-computed database of optimal micro-cells to be computational efficient without losing in structural performances. The parameterization allows to generate a lightweight database just storing the set of parameters, that define the optimal cells, and the cells properties, that are obtained through inverse homogenization. The method has been successfully tested on two-dimensional compliance problems. Several examples demonstrate its versatility and give quantitative results. Moreover, it allows to obtain structures compatible with additive manufacturing processes, to naturally solve concurrent multi-scale problems, as well as controlled porosity and optimal fiber orientation problems.