Evolutionary topology optimization for continuum structures using isogeometric analysis

This work proposed an evolutionary topology optimization using isogeometric analysis for continuum structures with smoothed boundary representation. Specifically, continuum structure is analyzed and optimized in fixed background IGA mesh. The design domain of continuum structure is a spatially continuous design variable field with discrete topology design variable. Moreover, the corresponding sensitivity field is constructed by the same NURBS formalism as design and analysis. Hence, the structural topology with smoothed boundary is iteratively updated by intersecting the sensitivity field with an appropriate threshold. Moreover, the post-processing phase involving the CAD reconstruction of the optimized geometry is trivial for 2D problems and it needs a few extra operations for 3D cases. Several 2D and 3D numerical examples including the fully CAD compatible and editable post-processing procedure are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method, as well as its potential in engineering application.