Τopology Optimization under a Single Displacement Constraint Using a Strain Energy Criterion

Abstract

Based on a previous concept that has been successfully applied to the sizing optimization of truss and frame structures, this work extends and improves the strain energy criterion in the topology optimization of 2D continuum structures under a single displacement constraint. To make the proposed methodology transparent to other researchers and at the same time meaningful, the numerical value of the displacement constraint was taken to be equal to that obtained through the well-known Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization (SIMP) method under the same boundary conditions and the same external forces. The proposed method is more efficient than the SIMP method while leading to topologies very close to those obtained by the latter.

Keywords

• topology optimization
• optimality criteria
• strain energy
• finite element method