Structural topology design with multiple thermal criteria

Abstract

This paper shows how the evolutionary structural optimization (ESO) algorithm can be used to achieve a multiple criterion design for a structure in a thermal environment. The proposed thermal ESO procedure couples an evolutionary iterative process of a finite element heat conduction solution and a finite element thermoelastic solution. The overall efficiency of material usage is measured in terms of the combination of thermal stress levels and heat flux densities by using a combination strategy with weighting factors. The ESO method then works by eliminating from the structural domain under‐utilized material. In this paper, a practical design example of a printed circuit board substrate is presented to illustrate the capabilities of the ESO algorithm for thermal design optimization in multiple load environments.

Citation

Li, Q., Steven, G.P., Querin, O.M. and Xie, Y.M. (2000), "Structural topology design with multiple thermal criteria", Engineering Computations, Vol. 17 No. 6, pp. 715-734. https://doi.org/10.1108/02644400010340642