Preliminary Study on Linear Dynamic Response Topology Optimization Using Equivalent Static Loads

All the forces in the real world act dynamically on structures. Design and analysis should be performed based on the dynamic loads for the safety of structures. Dynamic (transient or vibrational) responses have many peaks in the time domain. Topology optimization, which gives an excellent conceptual design, mainly has been performed with static loads. In topology optimization, the number of design variables is quite large and considering the peaks is fairly costly. Topology optimization in the frequency domain has been performed to consider the dynamic effects; however, it is not sufficient to fully include the dynamic characteristics. In this research, linear dynamic response topology optimization is performed in the time domain. First, the necessity of topology optimization to directly consider the dynamic loads is verified by identifying the relationship between the natural frequency of a structure and the excitation frequency. When the natural frequency of a structure is low, the dynamic characteristics (inertia effect) should be considered. The equivalent static loads (ESLs) method is proposed for linear dynamic response topology optimization. ESLs are made to generate the same response field as that from dynamic loads at each time step of dynamic response analysis. The method was originally developed for size and shape optimizations. The original method is expanded to topology optimization under dynamic loads. At each time step of dynamic analysis, ESLs are calculated and ESLs are used as the external loads in static response topology optimization. The results of topology optimization are used to update the design variables (density of finite elements) and the updated design variables are used in dynamic analysis in a cyclic manner until the convergence criteria are satisfied. The updating rules and convergence criteria in the ESLs method are newly proposed for linear dynamic response topology optimization. The proposed updating rules are the artificial material method and the element elimination method. The artificial material method updates the material property for dynamic analysis at the next cycle using the results of topology optimization. The element elimination method is proposed to remove the element which has low density when static topology optimization is finished. These proposed methods are applied to some examples. The results are discussed in comparison with conventional linear static response topology optimization.