Concurrent topology design of structures and materials with optimal material orientation

A concurrent optimization design method for the topologies of structures and materials and the material orientation is presented based on bi-direction evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) method. The macrostructure is assumed to be composed of a uniform cellular material but with different orientation. The homogenization technique is used to calculate the effective properties of the cellular material which builds a connection between material and structure. An analytical method, which is flexible to deal with the shear “weak” and “strong” materials, is proposed to solve the material orientation optimization problem. The optimization algorithm considering the simultaneous optimization of topologies of macrostructures and material microstructures, and material orientations is developed. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed optimization algorithm and show that concurrent topology design of structures and materials with material orientation optimization can greatly improve the structural performance.