Shape Design Sensitivity Analysis Research Articles

Shape sensitivity analysis and design studies for CAD flume sections

This paper presents shape design sensitivity analysis (DSA) and design studies for recreational waterslides represented in computer-aided design (CAD) environment. The mathematical representations of a number of commonly used flume sections that serve as the building blocks for waterslide configurations are created in CAD tools. Geometric dimensions of the individual sections that affect not only their geometric shape but also the overall configurations are identified as design variables. These design variables can be varied to search for better design alternatives, for example, safer waterslides. A set of coupled differential equations based on Lagrange’s equations of motion that describe the motion of the riding object are derived. The equations of motion incorporate friction forces between the riding object and the surface of the flume sections. These second-order differential equations are then solved using Mathematica. Based on the equations of motion and design variables identified, a set of differential equations are derived for calculating shape DSA coefficients. These equations are solved numerically again using Mathematica. The major contribution of the paper are (1) extending waterslide design parameterization and shape DSA computation to true CAD-based flume sections, which greatly alleviates the design for manufacturing issues previously encountered, (2) incorporating friction forces into shape DSA computation, and (3) developing a design scenario that includes sensitivity display and what-if studies for a compromised design that is safer and with a larger acceleration, therefore, higher excitement levels. Incorporating friction forces into the computation supports design for rider’s excitement levels, which are related to accelerations. Waterslide design will not be realistic without including friction forces.

Design sensitivity analysis and optimization for minimizing springback of sheet‐formed part

AbstractThe springback is a manufacturing defect in the stamping process and causes difficulty in product assembly. An impediment to the use of lighter‐weight, higher‐strength materials in manufacturing is relative lack of understanding about how these materials respond to complex forming processes. The springback can be reduced by using an optimized combination of die, punch, and blank holder shapes together with friction and blank‐holding force. An optimized process can be determined using a gradient‐based optimization to minimize the springback. For an effective optimization of the stamping process, development of an efficient design sensitivity analysis (DSA) for the springback with respect to these process parameters is crucial. A continuum‐based shape and configuration DSA method for the stamping process has been developed using a non‐linear shell model. The material derivative is used to develop the continuum‐based design sensitivity. The design sensitivity equation is solved without iteration at each converged load step in the finite deformation elastoplastic non‐linear analysis with frictional contact, which makes sensitivity calculation very efficient. Numerical implementation of the proposed shape and configuration DSA method is performed using the meshfree method. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method are illustrated by minimizing the springback in a benchmark S‐rail problem. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Shape design sensitivity analysis for stability of elastic continuum structures

This paper addresses a method for shape design sensitivity analysis of a buckling load in a continuous elastic body. The sensitivity formula for critical load is analytically derived and expressed in terms of shape variation, based on the continuum formulation of the stability problem. Though the buckling problem is more efficiently solved by structural elements such as a beam and shell, elastic solids have been chosen for the buckling analysis in this paper because solid elements can generally be used for any kind of structure whether it is thick or thin. The initial stress and buckling analysis is carried out by the commercial analysis code ANSYS. Sensitivity is then computed by using the mathematical package MATLAB with the results of ANSYS. Several problems including straight and curved beams under compressive load, ring under pressure load, thin-walled section and bottle shaped column are chosen in order to illustrate the efficiency of the presented method.

Continuum‐based design sensitivity analysis and optimization of nonlinear shell structures using meshfree method

AbstractA continuum‐based shape and configuration design sensitivity analysis (DSA) method for a finite deformation elastoplastic shell structure has been developed. Shell elastoplasticity is treated using the projection method that performs the return mapping on the subspace defined by the zero‐normal stress condition. An incrementally objective integration scheme is used in the context of finite deformation shell analysis, wherein the stress objectivity is preserved for finite rotation increments. The material derivative concept is used to develop a continuum‐based shape and configuration DSA method. Significant computational efficiency is obtained by solving the design sensitivity equation without iteration at each converged load step using the same consistent tangent stiffness matrix. Numerical implementation of the proposed shape and configuration DSA is carried out using the meshfree method. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method is illustrated using numerical examples. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

탄성 구조물의 안정성을 고려한 형상설계민감도해석

This paper addresses the method for the shape design sensitivity analysis of the buckling load in the continuous elastic body. The sensitivity formula for critical load is analytically derived and expressed in terms of shape variation, based on the continuum formulation of the stability problem. Though the buckling problem is more efficiently solved by the structural elements such as beam and shell, the elastic solids are considered in this paper because the solid elements can be used in general for any kind of structures whether they are thick or thin. The initial stress and buckling analysis is carried out by the commercial analysis code ANSYS. The sensitivity is computed by using the mathematical package MATLAB using the results of ANSYS. Several problems including straight and curved beams under compressive load, ring under pressure load, thin-walled section and bottle shaped column are chosen to illustrate the efficiency of the presented method.

Boundary method for shape design sensitivity analysis in solving free-surface flow problems

An efficient boundary-based optimization technique is applied in the numerical computation of free surface flow problems, by reformulating them into the equivalent optimal shape design problems. While the sensitivity in the boundary method has mainly been calculated using the boundary element method (BEM) as an analysis means, the finite element method (FEM) is used in this study because of its popularity and easy-to-use features. The advantage of boundary method is that the design velocity vectors are needed only on the boundary, not over the whole domain. As such, a determination of the complicated domain design velocity field, which is necessary in the domain method, is eliminated, thereby making the process easy to implement and efficient. Seepage and supercavitating flow problem are chosen to illustrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed method.

On the enhancement of computation and exploration of discretization approaches for meshless shape design sensitivity analysis

A new implementation of Reproducing Kernel Particle Method (RKPM) is proposed to enhance the process of shape design sensitivity analysis (DSA). The acceleration process is accomplished by expressing RKPM shape functions and their derivatives explicitly in terms of kernel function moments. In addition, two different discretization approaches are explored elaborately, which emanate from discretizing design sensitivity equation using the direct differentiation method. Comparison of these two approaches is made, and the equivalence of these two superficially different approaches is demonstrated through two elastostatics problems. The effectiveness of the enhanced RKPM is also verified by comparison of consumption of computer time between the classical method and the improved method.

Shape design sensitivity analysis with respect to the positioning of features in composite structures using the boundary element method

This paper presents the application of the boundary element method to the shape design sensitivity analysis of composite structures with holes and cutouts. A two-dimensional (2D) anisotropic domain, which contains a number of voids of arbitrary shapes will be considered. The objective is to perform the design sensitivity analysis of the structure with respect to the translation and rotation of the voids using the boundary element method. A directly differentiated form of the boundary integral equation, with respect to geometric design variables is used to calculate the shape design sensitivities for anisotropic materials. The response sensitivity analysis, with respect to the design variables such as feature positions and orientations, is achieved by the definition of appropriate design velocity fields for these variables. To find the optimum positions of the features within an anisotropic structure with the highest stiffness, the elastic compliance of the structure has been minimized subject to constraints upon stresses and geometry. Due to the non-linear nature of the mean compliance and stresses, the numerical optimisation algorithm used is the feasible direction method, together with the golden section method for the 1D search. A couple of test cases have been performed to verify the proposed method.

Eulerian shape design sensitivity analysis and optimization with a fixed grid

Conventional shape optimization based on the finite element method uses Lagrangian representation in which the finite element mesh moves according to shape change, while modern topology optimization uses Eulerian representation. In this paper, an approach to shape optimization using Eulerian representation such that the mesh distortion problem in the conventional approach can be resolved is proposed. A continuum geometric model is defined on the fixed grid of finite elements. An active set of finite elements that defines the discrete domain is determined using a procedure similar to topology optimization, in which each element has a unique shape density. The shape design parameter that is defined on the geometric model is transformed into the corresponding shape density variation of the boundary elements. Using this transformation, it has been shown that the shape design problem can be treated as a parameter design problem, which is a much easier method than the former. A detailed derivation of how the shape design velocity field can be converted into the shape density variation is presented along with sensitivity calculation. Very efficient sensitivity coefficients are calculated by integrating only those elements that belong to the structural boundary. The accuracy of the sensitivity information is compared with that derived by the finite difference method with excellent agreement. Two design optimization problems are presented to show the feasibility of the proposed design approach.

Error estimation for the finite element evaluation of [formula omitted] and [formula omitted] in mixed-mode linear elastic fracture mechanics

A discretization error estimator for the finite element evaluation of the strain energy release rates (SERRs) G I , G II is presented for mixed-mode bidimensional problems of the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). The estimator is related to one of the most efficient energetic methods: the equivalent domain integral method (EDI). A continuum approach of the shape design sensitivity analysis (SDSA) is applied to the fracture mechanics problem in combination with the field decomposition technique to obtain separate estimates of the discretization error for each mode. The error estimator enables an a posteriori improvement of G I , G II for a given finite element mesh. The improvement is achieved by adding the estimated errors to the previously calculated values of G I , G II by means of the discrete analytical stiffness derivative method (DASD). This is verified through numerical examples based on the Westergaard's problem and a finite domain problem.

초공동(超空洞) 유동 문제의 형상 설계민감도 해석

An efficient boundary-based technique is developed for addressing shape design sensitivity analysis in supercavitating flow problem. An analytical sensitivity formula in the form of a boundary integral is derived based on the continuum formulation for a general functional defined in potential flow problems. The formula, which is expressed in terms of the boundary solutions and shape variation vectors, can be conveniently used for gradient computation in a variety of shape design in potential flow problems. While the sensitivity can be calculated independent of the analysis means, such as the finite element method (FEM) or the boundary element method (BEM), the FEM is used for the analysis in this study because of its popularity and easy-to-features. The advantage of using a boundary-based method is that the shape variation vectors are needed only on the boundary, not over the whole domain. The boundary shape variation vectors are conveniently computed by using finite perturbations of the shape geometry instead of complex analytical differentiation of the geometry functions. The supercavitating flow problem is chosen to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed methodology. Implementation issues for the sensitivity analysis and optimization procedure are also addressed in this flow problem.

Maximization of Flux-Linkage in HTS Motors Using Shape Design Sensitivity Analysis With Critical Current Constraint

This paper proposes a design method for optimizing the rotor winding shape of HTS motor. The design objective is to maximize the flux-linkage of stator winding with a given amount of superconductor volume. The increase of flux-linkage results in output-power increase, compact size and quench-reliable characteristic. The optimization algorithm is a design sensitivity analysis where the HTS critical current condition is taken into account. First, the shape of rotor winding is optimized to give a boundary shape of smooth curves. Second, with the shape the rectangular sizes of windings are approximately obtained for easy manufacture. Finally, the rectangular sizes are also optimized for fine-size tuning. The proposed design method is applied to the 100-hp HTS motor.

バイステーブルコンプライアントメカニズムの形状設計と不整感度解析

バイステーブルコンプライアントメカニズムの形状設計と不整感度解析

An improvement of the EDI method in linear elastic fracture mechanics by means of an a posteriori error estimator in G

AbstractIn this paper, an error estimator that quantifies the effect of the finite element discretization error on the computation of the stress intensity factor in linear elastic fracture mechanics is presented. In order to obtain the proposed estimator, a shape design sensitivity analysis (SDSA) is applied to the fracture mechanics problem. Following this approach, one of the most efficient post‐processing techniques for computing the strain energy release rate G, the well‐known EDI method, may be interpreted as a continuum method of the SDSA. The proposed error estimator is based on the recovery of the gradient fields and its reliability has been checked by means of numerical problems, yielding very good estimations of the true error. The new estimator remarkably improves the results given by a previous error estimator, which is based on a discrete analytical approach of SDSA. As a consequence, the combination of the new error estimator and the result given by the EDI method provides a much more accurate estimation of G. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Modal approaches for the stochastic finite element analysis of structures with material and geometric uncertainties

This paper presents two efficient modal approaches as an alternative to direct formulations for the time-harmonic dynamic analysis of structures with random material and shape parameters. In both approaches, the structural eigenproblem is solved and complemented by a sensitivity analysis to the random parameters. The modal perturbation stochastic finite element method (SFEM) then condenses the response sensitivities to assess the response variability. The mixed perturbation/Monte-Carlo SFEM assesses the response statistics by sampling the structural eigenmodes according to the perturbation estimation of their probability distribution functions (PDFs). Geometric uncertainties are handled through an appropriate shape parameterisation and a shape design sensitivity analysis. Two numerical applications examine both approaches in terms of accuracy, variability level and computational requirements. The applications involve a plate bending problem with random Young modulus or edge length and a plate with a random flatness default. Particular observations related to the influence of the parameter PDFs in simulation-based methods are also provided.

Shape design sensitivity analysis with critical current condition of superconducting system

This paper presents a new shape design sensitivity analysis for the general superconducting system. The proposed method takes into account the nonlinear dependence of the critical current on the maximum magnetic flux density in the sensitivity calculation. The J/sub c/-B/sub m/ curve of the superconducting material is interpolated from the measurement data. The design of a magnetic resonance imaging superconducting solenoid is given as a numerical example.

Shape design sensitivity analysis for the radiated noise from the thin-body

Many industrial applications generally use thin-body structures in their design. To calculate the radiated noise from vibrated structure including thin bodies, the conventional boundary element method (BEM) using the Helmholtz integral equation is not an effective resolution. Thus, many researchers have studied to resolve the thin-body problem in various physical fields. No major study in the design sensitivity analysis (DSA) fields for thin-body acoustics, however, has been reported. A continuum-based shape DSA method is presented for the radiated noise from the thin-body. The normal derivative integral equation is employed as an analysis formulation. And, for the acoustic shape design sensitivity formulation, the equation is differentiated directly by using material derivative concept. To solve the normal derivative integral equation, the normal velocities on the surface should be calculated. In the acoustic shape sensitivity formulation, not only the normal velocities on the surface are required but also derivative coefficients of the normal velocities (structural shape design sensitivity) are also required as the input. Hence, the shape design sensitivity of structural velocities on the surface, with respect to the shape change, should be calculated. In this research, the structural shape design sensitivities are also obtained by using a continuum approach. And both a modified interpolation function and the Cauchy principle value are used to regularize the singularities generated from the acoustic shape design sensitivity formulation. A simple annular disk is considered as a numerical example to validate the accuracy and efficiency of the shape design sensitivity equations derived in this research. The commercial BEM code, SYSNOISE, is utilized to confirm the results of the developed in-house code based on a normal derivative integral equation. To validate the calculated design sensitivity results, central finite difference method (FDM) is employed. The error between FDM and the analytical result are less than 3%. This comparison demonstrates that the proposed design sensitivities of the radiated pressure are very accurate.

Numerical method for shape optimization using meshfree method

A numerical method for continuum-based shape design sensitivity analysis and optimization using the meshfree method is proposed. The reproducing kernel particle method is used for domain discretization in conjunction with the Gauss integration method. Special features of the meshfree method from a sensitivity analysis viewpoint are discussed, including the treatment of essential boundary conditions, and the dependence of the shape function on the design variation. It is shown that the mesh distortion that exists in the finite element–based design approach is effectively resolved for large shape changing design problems through 2-D and 3-D numerical examples. The number of design iterations is reduced because of the accurate sensitivity information.

Shape design sensitivity analysis and optimization of two-dimensional periodic thermal problems using BEM

A general procedure to perform shape design sensitivity analysis for two-dimensional periodic thermal diffusion problems is developed using boundary integral equation formulation. The material derivative concept to describe shape variation is used. The temperature is decomposed into a steady state component and a perturbation component. The adjoint variable method is used by utilizing integral identities for each component. The primal and adjoint systems are solved by boundary element method. The sensitivity results compared with those by finite difference show good accuracy. The shape optimal design problem of a plunger model for the panel of a television bulb, which operates periodically, is solved as an example. Different objectives and amounts of heat flux allowed are studied. Corresponding optimum shapes of the cooling boundary of the plunger are obtained and discussed.

Shape design sensitivity analysis and optimization of general plane arch structures

The problem of shape design sensitivity analysis over a plane arch structure is studied based on a variational formulation of a curved beam in linear elasticity. A general formula is derived using the material derivative concept for the shape design sensitivity of the stress defined at a local segment. The obtained sensitivity expression, which can be computed by simple algebraic manipulation of the solution variables, is well suited for numerical implementation and provides accurate values. Since a complete description is given to the shape and its variation of the arch, the formulation can manage more complex design problems with ease and also gives better optimum design information than previously available. Several examples are used to show the advantage of the method, in which the accuracy of the sensitivity is evaluated. Shape optimization is also conducted with two design problems so as to illustrate its excellent applicability.