Abstract
The application of the adaptive growth method is limited because several key techniques during the design process need manual intervention of designers. Key techniques of the method including the ground structure construction and seed selection are studied, so as to make it possible to improve the effectiveness and applicability of the adaptive growth method in stiffener layout design optimization of plates and shells. Three schemes of ground structures, which are comprised by different shell elements and beam elements, are proposed. It is found that the main stiffener layouts resulted from different ground structures are almost the same, but the ground structure comprised by 8-nodes shell elements and both 3-nodes and 2-nodes beam elements can result in clearest stiffener layout, and has good adaptability and low computational cost. An automatic seed selection approach is proposed, which is based on such selection rules that the seeds should be positioned on where the structural strain energy is great for the minimum compliance problem, and satisfy the dispersancy requirement. The adaptive growth method with the suggested key techniques is integrated into an ANSYS-based program, which provides a design tool for the stiffener layout design optimization of plates and shells. Typical design examples, including plate and shell structures to achieve minimum compliance and maximum bulking stability are illustrated. In addition, as a practical mechanical structural design example, the stiffener layout of an inlet structure for a large-scale electrostatic precipitator is also demonstrated. The design results show that the adaptive growth method integrated with the suggested key techniques can effectively and flexibly deal with stiffener layout design problem for plates and shells with complex geometrical shape and loading conditions to achieve various design objectives, thus it provides a new solution method for engineering structural topology design optimization.
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This project is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grants No. 50875174, 51175347), Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission(Grant No. 13ZZ114), and Capacity Building Project of Local University of Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission(Grant No. 13160502500)
DING Xiaohong, born in 1965, is currently a professor at School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, China. She received her PhD degree from Kanazawa University, Japan, in 2004. Her research interests include structural design optimization, mechanical analysis of machinery structure.
JI Xuerong, born in 1985, is currently an engineer at Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center Co. Ltd. China. He received his master degree from University of Shanghai for Science and technology, China, in 2011. His research interest includes structural design optimization.
MA Man, born in 1986, is currently a master candidate at School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and technology, China. Her research interest includes structural design optimization.
Hou Jianyun, born in 1985, is currently a master candidate at School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and technology, China. Her research interest includes structural design optimization.
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Ding, X., Ji, X., Ma, M. et al. Key techniques and applications of adaptive growth method for stiffener layout design of plates and shells. Chin. J. Mech. Eng. 26, 1138–1148 (2013). https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2013.06.1138
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2013.06.1138