Open Access

ARTICLE

Suppressing Gray-Scale Elements in Topology Optimization of Continua Using Modified Optimality Criterion Methods

Yixian Du^1,2, De Chen^1,3

1 College of Mechanical & Material Engineering, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, 443002, China
2 Corresponding Author. Tel: +86-717-63975560; Fax: +86-717-6397559. E-mail address: duyixian2005@yahoo.com.cn
3 Hubei Key Laboratory of Hydroelectric Machinery Design & Maintenance, Yichang, 443002, China

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2012, 86(1), 53-70. https://doi.org/10.3970/cmes.2012.086.053

Abstract

This study proposes a new topology optimization method for continuum structures, which includes modified heuristic optimality criteria in conjunction with the SIMP scheme to suppress gray-scale elements occurred in topology optimization of continua through smoothed Heaviside function. In the process of numerical implementation, the gray scale elements are suppressed to approach the binary bounds of 0 or 1 by utilizing the proposed approach and the corresponding convergence criterion. Two typical numerical examples are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in suppressing the gray-scale elements with intermediate densities, as well as the efficiency of this method in the numerical procedure.

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Keywords

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