Generalized Shape And Topology Optimization: Recent Developments And Application Perspectives To Automotive Structures

More than 15 years after the seminal work by Bendsøe and Kikuchi, topology optimization of structures has taken advantage of my research efforts and has now become a commercial available tool (e.g. OptiStruct by Altair, Topol by Samtech, etc.). These software tools are daily used in automotive industry and provide engineers with a rational tool for preliminary design of efficient structural components. This paper presents the status of available topology optimization tools and introduces the recent developments that extend their capabilities in order to handle stress constraints, manufacturing constraints, etc.

The communication also presents a novel approach of generalized shape optimization that has been introduced to circumvent the difficulties of parametric shape optimization and to complement topology optimization. The approach is based on the eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM) and the Level Set Description of the geometry. The Level Set description introduces smooth curve descriptions and allows modifying the connectivity of the wholes. The XFEM works with a fixed mesh as in topology optimization, which makes the method very convenient for engineers. Thus the novel approach is likely to bring the next future evolution of structural optimization. Impressive capabilities of this new generation approach will be demonstrated.

Application examples from automotive and aerospace engineering will illustrate the different possibilities offered by two approaches.