Stress-based evolutionary topology optimization via XIGA with explicit geometric boundaries

•A stress-based evolutionary topology optimization framework via XIGA is proposed.•Geometric boundaries of optimized design explicitly expressed as B-spline.•Satisfactory stress accuracy along the structural boundaries is guaranteed by XIGA.•No need for fine meshing to achieve clear strength design with smooth boundaries.•Structural boundary control points of the strength design can be directly edited to further improve strength performance.