On preventing the dripping effect of overhang constraints in topology optimization for additive manufacturing

This article falls within the scope of topology optimization for Additive Manufacturing processes and proposes an alternative strategy to prevent the phenomenon known as the Dripping Effect. The Dripping Effect is when an overhang constraint is imposed on topology optimization processes for Additive Manufacturing and is defined as the formation of oscillatory contour trends within the prescribed threshold angle. Although these drop-like formations constitute local minimizers of the constraint function, they do not provide a printable feature, and, therefore, they neither eliminate the need to form temporary support structures. So far, there has been no general agreement on how to prevent the Dripping Effect, so this work aims to introduce a strategy that effectively prevents it, and that at the same time may be easy to extrapolate to other types of geometric overhang restrictions. This paper provides a study of the origin of the Dripping Effect and gives detailed instructions on how the proposed prevention strategy is applied. In addition, several benchmark examples where the Dripping Effect is prevented are shown.