Stress-constrained topology optimization considering uniform manufacturing uncertainties

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This paper proposes a robust design approach, based on eroded, intermediate and dilated projections, to handle uniform manufacturing uncertainties in stress-constrained topology optimization. In addition, a simple scheme is proposed to increase accuracy of stress evaluation at jagged edges, based on limiting sharpness of the projections to intentionally allow a thin layer of intermediate material between solid and void phases. A reference problem is analyzed through voxel-based finite element models, demonstrating that, in association with a proper choice of stiffness and stress interpolation functions, the proposed scheme can ensure consistent stress magnitude and smooth stress behavior for uniform boundary variation. Optimization problems are solved and post-processing with body-fitted meshes is performed over optimized solutions, demonstrating that: (1) stresses evaluated with voxel-based meshes containing thin soft transition boundaries are consistent with stresses evaluated with body-fitted meshes; and (2) optimized structures are robust with respect to uniform boundary variations.