Structural topology optimization considering geometrical and load nonlinearities

Abstract

The pressure loads are always perpendicular to the deformed surface. Under the large deformation, the pressure loads will lead to load nonlinearity because of the direction change. This paper proposes a topology optimization method considering both geometrical and load nonlinearities. The geometrically nonlinear finite element formulation is described to consider the pressure loads. A topology optimization model is constructed with the external work as objective function and volume fraction as constraint. The sensitivity information is derived by the adjoint method. Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.