Topology, Size, and Shape Optimization in Civil Engineering Structures: A Review

The optimization of civil engineering structures is critical for enhancing structural performance and material efficiency in engineering applications.Structural optimization approaches seek to determine the optimal design,by considering material performance,cost,and structural safety.The design approaches aim to reduce the built environment’s energy use and carbon emissions.This comprehensive review examines optimization techniques,including size,shape,topology,and multi-objective approaches,by integrating these methodologies.The trends and advancements that contribute to developing more efficient,cost-effective,and reliable structural designs were identified.The review also discusses emerging technologies,such as machine learning applications with different optimization techniques.Optimization of truss,frame,tensegrity,reinforced concrete,origami,pantographic,and adaptive structures are covered and discussed.Optimization techniques are explained,including metaheuristics,genetic algorithm,particle swarm,ant-colony,harmony search algorithm,and their applications with mentioned structure types.Linear and non-linear structures,including geometric and material nonlinearity,are distinguished.The role of optimization in active structures,structural design,seismic design,form-finding,and structural control is taken into account,and the most recent techniques and advancements are mentioned.

A structural topological optimization method for multi-displacement constraints and any initial topology configuration

In density-based topological design, one expects that the final result consists of elements either black （solid material） or white （void）, without any grey areas. Moreover, one also expects that the optimal topology can be obtained by starting from any initial topology configuration. An improved structural topological optimization method for multidisplacement constraints is proposed in this paper. In the proposed method, the whole optimization process is divided into two optimization adjustment phases and a phase transferring step. Firstly, an optimization model is built to deal with the varied displacement limits, design space adjustments, and reasonable relations between the element stiffness matrix and mass and its element topology variable. Secondly, a procedure is proposed to solve the optimization problem formulated in the first optimization adjustment phase, by starting with a small design space and advancing to a larger deign space. The design space adjustments are automatic when the design domain needs expansions, in which the convergence of the proposed method will not be affected. The final topology obtained by the proposed procedure in the first optimization phase, can approach to the vicinity of the optimum topology. Then, a heuristic algorithm is given to improve the efficiency and make the designed structural topology black/white in both the phase transferring step and the second optimization adjustment phase. And the optimum topology can finally be obtained by the second phase optimization adjustments. Two examples are presented to show that the topologies obtained by the proposed method are of very good 0/1 design distribution property, and the computational efficiency is enhanced by reducing the element number of the design structural finite model during two optimization adjustment phases. And the examples also show that this method is robust and practicable.

Topological optimization of ballistic protective structures through genetic algorithms in a vulnerability-driven environment

Reducing the vulnerability of a platform,i.e.,the risk of being affected by hostile objects,is of paramount importance in the design process of vehicles,especially aircraft.A simple and effective way to decrease vulnerability is to introduce protective structures to intercept and possibly stop threats.However,this type of solution can lead to a significant increase in weight,affecting the performance of the aircraft.For this reason,it is crucial to study possible solutions that allow reducing the vulnerability of the aircraft while containing the increase in structural weight.One possible strategy is to optimize the topology of protective solutions to find the optimal balance between vulnerability and the weight of the added structures.Among the many optimization techniques available in the literature for this purpose,multiobjective genetic algorithms stand out as promising tools.In this context,this work proposes the use of a in-house software for vulnerability calculation to guide the process of topology optimization through multi-objective genetic algorithms,aiming to simultaneously minimize the weight of protective structures and vulnerability.In addition to the use of the in-house software,which itself represents a novelty in the field of topology optimization of structures,the method incorporates a custom mutation function within the genetic algorithm,specifically developed using a graph-based approach to ensure the continuity of the generated structures.The tool developed for this work is capable of generating protections with optimized layouts considering two different types of impacting objects,namely bullets and fragments from detonating objects.The software outputs a set of non-dominated solutions describing different topologies that the user can choose from.

A NEW METHOD FOR STRUCTURAL TOPOLOGICAL OPTIMIZATION BASED ON THE CONCEPT OF INDEPENDENT CONTINUOUS VARIABLES AND SMOOTH MODEL

A concept of the independent-continuous topological variable is proposed to establish its corresponding smooth model of structural topological optimization. The method can overcome difficulties that are encountered in conventional models and algorithms for the optimization of the structural topology. Its application to truss topological optimization with stress and displacement constraints is satisfactory, with convergence faster than that of sectional optimizations.

Different effects of economic and structural performance indexes on model construction of structural topology optimization

The objective and constraint functions related to structural optimization designs are classified into economic and performance indexes in this paper.The influences of their different roles in model construction of structural topology optimization are also discussed.Furthermore,two structural topology optimization models,optimizing a performance index under the limitation of an economic index,represented by the minimum compliance with a volume constraint（MCVC）model,and optimizing an economic index under the limitation of a performance index,represented by the minimum weight with a displacement constraint（MWDC）model,are presented.Based on a comparison of numerical example results,the conclusions can be summarized as follows：（1）under the same external loading and displacement performance conditions,the results of the MWDC model are almost equal to those of the MCVC model;（2）the MWDC model overcomes the difficulties and shortcomings of the MCVC model;this makes the MWDC model more feasible in model construction;（3）constructing a model of minimizing an economic index under the limitations of performance indexes is better at meeting the needs of practical engineering problems and completely satisfies safety and economic requirements in mechanical engineering,which have remained unchanged since the early days of mechanical engineering.

Web Layout Design of Large Cavity Structures Based on Topology Optimization

Large cavity structures are widely employed in aerospace engineering, such as thin-walled cylinders, blades andwings. Enhancing performance of aerial vehicles while reducing manufacturing costs and fuel consumptionhas become a focal point for contemporary researchers. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the topologyoptimization of large cavity structures as a means to enhance their performance, safety, and efficiency. By usingthe variable density method, lightweight design is achieved without compromising structural strength. Theoptimization model considers both concentrated and distributed loads, and utilizes techniques like sensitivityfiltering and projection to obtain a robust optimized configuration. The mechanical properties are checked bycomparing the stress distribution and displacement of the unoptimized and optimized structures under the sameload. The results confirm that the optimized structures exhibit improved mechanical properties, thus offering keyinsights for engineering lightweight, high-strength large cavity structures.

Multi-Material Topology Optimization for Spatial-Varying Porous Structures

This paper aims to propose a topology optimization method on generating porous structures comprising multiple materials.The mathematical optimization formulation is established under the constraints of individual volume fraction of constituent phase or total mass,as well as the local volume fraction of all phases.The original optimization problem with numerous constraints is converted into a box-constrained optimization problem by incorporating all constraints to the augmented Lagrangian function,avoiding the parameter dependence in the conventional aggregation process.Furthermore,the local volume percentage can be precisely satisfied.The effects including the globalmass bound,the influence radius and local volume percentage on final designs are exploited through numerical examples.The numerical results also reveal that porous structures keep a balance between the bulk design and periodic design in terms of the resulting compliance.All results,including those for irregular structures andmultiple volume fraction constraints,demonstrate that the proposedmethod can provide an efficient solution for multiple material infill structures.

Multiscale Isogeometric Topology Optimization with Unified Structural Skeleton

This paper proposes a multiscale isogeometric topology optimization(ITO)method where the configuration and layout of microstructures are optimized simultaneously.At micro scale,a shape deformation method is presented to transform a prototype microstructure(PM)for obtaining a series of graded microstructures(GMs),where microstructural skeleton based on the level set framework is applied to retain more topology features and improve the connectability.For the macro scale calculation,the effective mechanical properties can be estimated by means of the numerical homogenization method.By adopting identical non-uniform rational basis splines(NURBS)as basis functions for both parameterized level set model and isogeometric calculation model,the isogeometric analysis(IGA)is integrated into the level set method,which contributes to improving the accuracy and efficiency.Numerical examples demonstrate that,the proposed method is effective in improving the performance and manufacturability.

Topology Optimization with Aperiodic Load Fatigue Constraints Based on Bidirectional Evolutionary Structural Optimization

Because of descriptive nonlinearity and computational inefficiency,topology optimization with fatigue life under aperiodic loads has developed slowly.A fatigue constraint topology optimization method based on bidirectional evolutionary structural optimization(BESO)under an aperiodic load is proposed in this paper.In viewof the severe nonlinearity of fatigue damagewith respect to design variables,effective stress cycles are extracted through transient dynamic analysis.Based on the Miner cumulative damage theory and life requirements,a fatigue constraint is first quantified and then transformed into a stress problem.Then,a normalized termination criterion is proposed by approximatemaximum stress measured by global stress using a P-normaggregation function.Finally,optimization examples show that the proposed algorithm can not only meet the requirements of fatigue life but also obtain a reasonable configuration.

Stress Relaxation and Sensitivity Weight for Bi-Directional Evolutionary Structural Optimization to Improve the Computational Efficiency and Stabilization on Stress-Based Topology Optimization

Stress-based topology optimization is one of the most concerns of structural optimization and receives much attention in a wide range of engineering designs.To solve the inherent issues of stress-based topology optimization,many schemes are added to the conventional bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization(BESO)method in the previous studies.However,these schemes degrade the generality of BESO and increase the computational cost.This study proposes an improved topology optimization method for the continuum structures considering stress minimization in the framework of the conventional BESO method.A global stress measure constructed by p-norm function is treated as the objective function.To stabilize the optimization process,both qp-relaxation and sensitivity weight scheme are introduced.Design variables are updated by the conventional BESO method.Several 2D and 3D examples are used to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.The results show that the optimization process can be stabilized by qp-relaxation.The value of q and p are crucial to reasonable solutions.The proposed sensitivity weight scheme further stabilizes the optimization process and evenly distributes the stress field.The computational efficiency of the proposed method is higher than the previous methods because it keeps the generality of BESO and does not need additional schemes.

Thermoelastic Structural Topology Optimization Based on Moving Morphable Components Framework

This study investigates structural topology optimization of thermoelastic structures considering two kinds of objectives ofminimumstructural compliance and elastic strain energy with a specified available volume constraint.To explicitly express the configuration evolution in the structural topology optimization under combination of mechanical and thermal load conditions,the moving morphable components(MMC)framework is adopted.Based on the characteristics of the MMC framework,the number of design variables can be reduced substantially.Corresponding optimization formulation in the MMC topology optimization framework and numerical solution procedures are developed for several numerical examples.Different optimization results are obtained with structural compliance and elastic strain energy as objectives,respectively,for thermoelastic problems.The effectiveness of the proposed optimization formulation is validated by the numerical examples.It is revealed that for the optimization design of the thermoelastic structural strength,the objective function with the minimum structural strain energy can achieve a better performance than that from structural compliance design.

Structural Topology Optimization by Combining BESO with Reinforcement Learning

In this paper,a new algorithm combining the features of bi-direction evolutionary structural optimization(BESO)and reinforcement learning(RL)is proposed for continuum structural topology optimization(STO).In contrast to conventional approaches which only generate a certain quasi-optimal solution,the goal of the combined method is to provide more quasi-optimal solutions for designers such as the idea of generative design.Two key components were adopted.First,besides sensitivity,value function updated by Monte-Carlo reinforcement learning was utilized to measure the importance of each element,which made the solving process convergent and closer to the optimum.Second,ε-greedy policy added a random perturbation to the main search direction so as to extend the search ability.Finally,the quality and diversity of solutions could be guaranteed by controlling the value of compliance as well as Intersection-over-Union(IoU).Results of several 2D and 3D compliance minimization problems,including a geometrically nonlinear case,show that the combined method is capable of generating a group of good and different solutions that satisfy various possible requirements in engineering design within acceptable computation cost.

STUDY OF TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION FOR THERMO-STRUCTURAL COUPLING FIELD

A number of critical problems of topology optimization concerning the thermostructural coupling field axe studied at length. The governing equations and topology optimization model for the thermal-structural coupling field axe derived, with an adjoint method for sensitivity analysis of the thermo-structural coupling field proposed. The optimization algorithm for coupling field topology optimization is investigated and a flowchart of coupling field topology optimization presented. The theory and algorithms axe implemented and verified by two numerical examples.

A stepwise optimization method for topology structure of fluid machinery network

The circulating water system is widely used as the cooling system in the process industry,which has the characteristics of high water and power consumption,and its energy consumption level has an important impact on the economic performance of the whole system.Pump network and water turbine network constitute the work network of the circulating water system,that is,the fluid machinery network.Based on the previous studies,this paper proposes a stepwise method to optimize the fluid machinery network,that is,to optimize the network structure by using the recoverable pressure-head curve of the branch,and consider the recovery of adjustable resistance at the valve of each branch,so as to further reduce energy consumption and water consumption.The calculation result of the case shows that the topology structure optimization can further reduce the operation cost and the annual capital cost on the basis of the fixed structure optimization,and the total annualized cost can be reduced by 30.04%.The optimization result of different flow shows that both the pump network and the water turbine network tend to series structure at a low flow rate whereas to parallel structure at a high flow rate.

Concurrent Two-Scale Topology Optimization of Thermoelastic Structures Using a M-VCUT Level Set Based Model of Microstructures

By analyzing the results of compliance minimization of thermoelastic structures,we observed that microstructures play an important role in this optimization problem.Then,we propose to use a multiple variable cutting(M-VCUT)level set-based model of microstructures to solve the concurrent two-scale topology optimization of thermoelastic structures.A microstructure is obtained by combining multiple virtual microstructures that are derived respectively from multiple microstructure prototypes,thus giving more diversity of microstructure and more flexibility in design optimization.The effective mechanical properties of microstructures are computed in an off-line phase by using the homogenization method,and then a mapping relationship between the design variables and the effective properties is established,which gives a data-driven model of microstructure.In the online phase,the data-driven model is used in the finite element analysis to improve the computational efficiency.The compliance minimization problem is considered,and the results of numerical examples prove that the proposed method is effective.

Full-Scale Isogeometric Topology Optimization of Cellular Structures Based on Kirchhoff-Love Shells

Cellular thin-shell structures are widely applied in ultralightweight designs due to their high bearing capacity and strength-to-weight ratio.In this paper,a full-scale isogeometric topology optimization(ITO)method based on Kirchhoff-Love shells for designing cellular tshin-shell structures with excellent damage tolerance ability is proposed.This method utilizes high-order continuous nonuniform rational B-splines(NURBS)as basis functions for Kirchhoff-Love shell elements.The geometric and analysis models of thin shells are unified by isogeometric analysis(IGA)to avoid geometric approximation error and improve computational accuracy.The topological configurations of thin-shell structures are described by constructing the effective density field on the controlmesh.Local volume constraints are imposed in the proximity of each control point to obtain bone-like cellular structures.To facilitate numerical implementation,the p-norm function is used to aggregate local volume constraints into an equivalent global constraint.Several numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.After simulation and comparative analysis,the results indicate that the cellular thin-shell structures optimized by the proposed method exhibit great load-carrying behavior and high damage robustness.

A Modified Bi-Directional Evolutionary Structural Optimization Procedure with Variable Evolutionary Volume Ratio Applied to Multi-Objective Topology Optimization Problem

Natural frequency and dynamic stiffness under transient loading are two key performances for structural design related to automotive,aviation and construction industries.This article aims to tackle the multi-objective topological optimization problem considering dynamic stiffness and natural frequency using modified version of bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization(BESO).The conventional BESO is provided with constant evolutionary volume ratio(EVR),whereas low EVR greatly retards the optimization process and high EVR improperly removes the efficient elements.To address the issue,the modified BESO with variable EVR is introduced.To compromise the natural frequency and the dynamic stiffness,a weighting scheme of sensitivity numbers is employed to form the Pareto solution space.Several numerical examples demonstrate that the optimal solutions obtained from the modified BESO method have good agreement with those from the classic BESO method.Most importantly,the dynamic removal strategy with the variable EVR sharply springs up the optimization process.Therefore,it is concluded that the modified BESO method with variable EVR can solve structural design problems using multi-objective optimization.

A Simple and Efficient Structural Topology Optimization Implementation Using Open-Source Software for All Steps of the Algorithm:Modeling, Sensitivity Analysis and Optimization

This work analyzes the implementation of a continuous method of structural topology optimization(STO)using open-source software for all stages of the topology optimization problem:modeling,sensitivity analysis and optimization.Its implementation involves three main components:numerical analysis using the Finite Element Method(FEM),sensitivity analysis using an Adjoint method and an optimization solver.In order to allow the automated numerical solution of Partial Differential Equations(PDEs)and perform a sensitivity analysis,FEniCS and Dolfin Adjoint software are used as tools,which are open-source code.For the optimization process,Ipopt(Interior Point OPTimizer)is used,which is a software package for nonlinear optimization scale designed to find(local)solutions of mathematical optimization problems.The topological optimization method used is based on the SIMP-Solid IsotropicMaterial with Penalization interpolation.The considered problem is the minimization of compliance/maximization of stiffness,considering the examples of recurrent structures in the literature in 2D and 3D.A density filtering algorithm based on Helmholtz formulation is used.The complete code involves 51 lines of programming and is presented and commented in detail in this article.

Independent continuous mapping for topological optimization of frame structures

Based on the Independent Continuous Mapping method （ICM）, a topological optimization model with continuous topological variables is built by introducing three filter functions for element weight, element allowable stress and element stiffness, which transform the 0-1 type discrete topological variables into continuous topological variables between 0 and 1. Two methods for the filter functions are adopted to avoid the structural singularity and recover falsely deleted elements： the weak material element method and the tiny section element method. Three criteria （no structural singularity, no violated constraints and no change of structural weight） are introduced to judge iteration convergence. These criteria allow finding an appropriate threshold by adjusting a discount factor in the iteration procedure. To improve the efficiency, the original optimization model is transformed into a dual problem according to the dual theory and solved in its dual space. By using MSC/Nastran as the structural solver and MSC/Patran as the developing platform, a topological optimization software of frame structures is accomplished. Numerical examples show that the ICM method is very efficient for the topological optimization of frame structures.

Topology Optimization of Compliant Mechanisms with Geometrical Nonlinearities Using the Ground Structure Approach

The majority of topology optimization of compliant mechanisms uses linear finite element models to find the structure responses.Because the displacements of compliant mechanisms are intrinsically large,the topological design can not provide quantitatively accurate result.Thus,topological design of these mechanisms considering geometrical nonlinearities is essential.A new methodology for geometrical nonlinear topology optimization of compliant mechanisms under displacement loading is presented.Frame elements are chosen to represent the design domain because they are capable of capturing the bending modes.Geometrically nonlinear structural response is obtained by using the co-rotational total Lagrange finite element formulation,and the equilibrium is solved by using the incremental scheme combined with Newton-Raphson iteration.The multi-objective function is developed by the minimum strain energy and maximum geometric advantage to design the mechanism which meets both stiffness and flexibility requirements, respectively.The adjoint method and the direct differentiation method are applied to obtain the sensitivities of the objective functions. The method of moving asymptotes（MMA） is employed as optimizer.The numerical example is simulated to show that the optimal mechanism based on geometrically nonlinear formulation not only has more flexibility and stiffness than that based on linear formulation,but also has better stress distribution than the one.It is necessary to design compliant mechanisms using geometrically nonlinear topology optimization.Compared with linear formulation,the formulation for geometrically nonlinear topology optimization of compliant mechanisms can give the compliant mechanism that has better mechanical performance.A new method is provided for topological design of large displacement compliant mechanisms.