Multiscale topology optimization with Direct FE2
Ang Zhao, Pei Li, Yehui Cui, Zhendong Hu, V.B.C. Tan
Abstract
Together with the rapid development in manufacturing technology, multiscale structural topology optimization presents opportunities for the design of components at both the structural and sub-structural scales. A few works on topological optimization based on FE 2 computational homogenization to concurrently evolve the structure and sub-structure have been reported. However, significant expertise and coding are required in the conventional implementation of FE 2 . It is shown that multiscale FE 2 optimization can be readily implemented on commercial finite element codes using the Direct FE 2 approach. The multiscale analysis is carried out as a single topology optimization job on commercial FE software. Numerical example problems are solved using ABAQUS to demonstrate the proposed method for stiffness optimization. It is shown that Direct FE 2 optimization takes only a fraction of the computational time required for optimization with a fine mesh and yet gives comparable optimized stiffness.