Topology optimization has undergone a tremendous development since its introduction in the seminal paper by Bendsoe and Kikuchi in 1988. By now, the concept is developing in many different directions, including “density”, “level set”, “topological derivative”, “phase field”, “evolutionary” and several others. The paper gives an overview, comparison and critical review of the different approaches, their strengths, weaknesses, similarities and dissimilarities and suggests guidelines for future research.

Topology optimization approaches: A comparative review

Topology optimization is the process of determining the optimal layout of material and connectivity inside a design domain. This paper surveys topology optimization of continuum structures from the year 2000 to 2012. It focuses on new developments, improvements, and applications of finite element-based topology optimization, which include a maturation of classical methods, a broadening in the scope of the field, and the introduction of new methods for multiphysics problems. Four different types of topology optimization are reviewed: (1) density-based methods, which include the popular Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization (SIMP) technique, (2) hard-kill methods, including Evolutionary Structural Optimization (ESO), (3) boundary variation methods (level set and phase field), and (4) a new biologically inspired method based on cellular division rules. We hope that this survey will provide an update of the recent advances and novel applications of popular methods, provide exposure to lesser known, yet promising, techniques, and serve as a resource for those new to the field. The presentation of each method's focuses on new developments and novel applications.

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A survey of structural and multidisciplinary continuum topology optimization: post 2000

This paper describes a topology design method for simple two-dimensional flow problems. We consider steady, incompressible laminar viscous flows at low-to-moderate Reynolds numbers. This makes the flow problem nonlinear and hence a nontrivial extension of the work of Borrvall and Petersson (2003).Further, the inclusion of inertia effects significantly alters the physics, enabling solutions of new classes of optimization problems, such as velocity-driven switches, that are not addressed by the earlier method. Specifically, we determine optimal layouts of channel flows that extremize a cost function which measures either some local aspect of the velocity field or a global quantity, such as the rate of energy dissipation. We use the finite element method to model the flow, and we solve the optimization problem with a gradient-based math-programming algorithm that is driven by analytical sensitivities. Our target application is optimal layout design of channels in fluid network systems. Using concepts borrowed from topology optimization of compliant mechanisms in solid mechanics, we introduce a method for the synthesis of fluidic components, such as switches, diodes, etc.

Topology optimization of channel flow problems

We present a versatile high-level programming-language implementation of non-linear topology optimization. Our implementation is based on the commercial software package FEMLAB, and it allows a wide range of optimization objectives to be dealt with easily. We exemplify our method by studies of steady-state Navier–Stokes flow problems, thus extending the work by Borrvall and Petersson on topology optimization of fluids in Stokes flow (Int. J. Num. Meth. Fluids 2003; 41:77–107). We analyse the physical aspects of the solutions and how they are affected by different parameters of the optimization algorithm. A complete example of our implementation is included as FEMLAB code in an appendix. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A high-level programming-language implementation of topology optimization applied to steady-state Navier-Stokes flow

This note addresses the use of the finite volume method (FVM) for topology optimization of a heat conduction problem Issues pertaining to the proper choice of cost functions, sensitivity analysis, and example test problems are used to illustrate the effect of applying the FVM as an analysis tool for design optimization This involves an application of the FVM to problems with nonhomogeneous material distributions, and the arithmetic and harmonic averages have here been used to provide a unique value for the conductivity at element boundaries It is observed that when using the harmonic average, checkerboards do not form during the topology optimization process

Topology optimization of heat conduction problems using the finite volume method

This note considers topology optimization of large scale 2D and 3D Stokes flow problems using parallel computations. We solve problems with up to 1,125,000 elements in 2D and 128,000 elements in 3D on a shared memory computer consisting of Sun UltraSparc IV CPUs.

Topology optimization of large scale stokes flow problems

We consider topology optimization of mass distribution problems in 2D and 3D Stokes flow with the aim of designing devices that meet target outflow rates.

Allan Gersborg-Hansen

Papers

Topology optimization of channel flow problems

Topology optimization of heat conduction problems using the finite volume method

Topology optimization of large scale stokes flow problems

Topology Optimization of Mass Distribution Problems in Stokes Flow

Topology optimization for multiphysics problems: A future FEMLAB application?