Simultaneous optimization of structural topology and build direction using B-spline parameterized density method

In this paper, a B-spline parameterized density method is proposed to simultaneously optimize the structural topology and the build direction for additive manufacturing (AM). B-spline parameterization is used to represent the structural density field together with Heaviside projection and Boolean operation. Two constraints and a novel filtering scheme relevant to AM are presented: The overhang angle constraint constructed based on the density gradient with build direction included as design variables. The boundary gradient constraint constructed for possible V-shaped cross-section features of 3D problems in various build directions. The gradient filtering scheme adopted to eliminate the V-shaped areas by computing the global overhang angle at all structural boundaries. Representative 2D and 3D problems are dealt with to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.