OVERVIEW OF STRUCTURAL TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION METHODS FOR PLANE AND SOLID STRUCTURES

Abstract

Topology optimization for structural design is a special type of problem in the optimization field. Although there are efforts to apply classic optimization techniques, the particularities of topology structural optimization have given birth to dedicated, more efficient and reliable methods. This paper is intended as an overview of both the currently accepted and the promising new methods for topology optimization as found in the scientific literature of the last 20 years. Five types of methods are described and compared, highlighting the differences, advantages and pitfalls of each one: evolutionarybased algorithms, Solid Isotropic Microstructure with Penalization (SIMP) methods, Evolutionary Structural Optimization (ESO) methods, Soft-Kill Option (SKO) and level-set methods.

Keywords

• Keywords:structuraloptimization
• topologyoptimization
• solidstructures
• overview