Adaptive Concurrent Topology Optimization of Cellular Composites for Additive Manufacturing

This paper introduces a new concurrent topology optimization approach based on adaptive geometric components for designing and fabricating cellular composites using 3D printing. The key idea behind this approach is to model adaptive geometric components by projecting them onto macro- and microelement density fields, combining them to calculate the effective densities of grid elements. The cellular structure at the macro- and microstructural levels are optimized at the same time by finding optimal geometric parameters for adaptive geometric components. The proposed method enables designing high-porosity composites on a coarse finite element mesh without material homogenization. As a result, it provides a cost-effective way to obtain optimal designs of cellular composites and simultaneously control the length scales of both the macro- and microstructures. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated through several numerical examples. This work also explores the ability to realize concurrent optimized structures using additive manufacturing.