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Article
Publication date: 19 July 2019

L.C. Ruspini, E. Dari, C. Padra, G.H. Paissan and N.N. Salva

The purpose of this paper is to present applications of the topological optimization method dealing with fluid dynamic problems in two- and three dimensions. The main goal is to…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present applications of the topological optimization method dealing with fluid dynamic problems in two- and three dimensions. The main goal is to develop a tool package able to optimize topology in realistic devices (e.g. inlet manifolds) considering the non-linear terms on Navier–Stokes equations.

Design/methodology/approach

Using an in-house Fortran code, a Galerkin stabilized finite element is implemented method to solve the three equation systems necessary for the topological optimization method: the direct problem, adjoint problem and topological derivative. The authors address the non-linearity in the equations using an iterative method. Different techniques to create holes into a two-dimensional discrete domain are analyzed.

Findings

One technique to create holes produces more accurate and robust results. The authors present several examples of applications in two- and three-dimensional components, which highlight the potential of this method in the optimization of fluid components.

Research limitations/implications

The authors contribute to the methodology and design in engineering.

Practical implications

Engineering fluid flow systems are used in many different industrial applications, e.g. oil flow in pipes; air flow around an airplane wing; sailing submarines; blood flow in synthetic arteries; and thermal and fissure spreading problems. The aim of this work is to create an effective design tool for obtaining efficient engineering structures and devices.

Originality/value

The authors contribute by creating an application of the method to design a tridimensional realistic device, which can be essayed experimentally. Particularly, the authors apply the design tool to an inlet manifold.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 36 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1995

C. Padra and M.J. Vénere

In this work an adaptive scheme to solve diffusion problems, usinglinear and quadratic triangles, is presented. The densification algorithm,based on the subdivision of the…

Abstract

In this work an adaptive scheme to solve diffusion problems, using linear and quadratic triangles, is presented. The densification algorithm, based on the subdivision of the selected elements, and the error estimator used are described first. We pay special attention to the behaviour of the estimator. It has two contributions: the residual term and the flux‐jump term. Babuska and co‐workers have shown that for bilinear quadrilterals, the first term is negligible, but for biquadratic, it is the dominant term. We show evidence suggesting that these results cannot be extended to triangular elements when the problem has a singular solution. We found, in this case, that if the flux‐jump term is neglected, the expected rate of convergence cannot be obtained. Finally, some remarks about the whole adaptive process are discussed.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 August 2021

Frédérique Le Louër and María-Luisa Rapún

In this paper, the authors revisit the computation of closed-form expressions of the topological indicator function for a one step imaging algorithm of two- and three-dimensional…

Abstract

Purpose

In this paper, the authors revisit the computation of closed-form expressions of the topological indicator function for a one step imaging algorithm of two- and three-dimensional sound-soft (Dirichlet condition), sound-hard (Neumann condition) and isotropic inclusions (transmission conditions) in the free space.

Design/methodology/approach

From the addition theorem for translated harmonics, explicit expressions of the scattered waves by infinitesimal circular (and spherical) holes subject to an incident plane wave or a compactly supported distribution of point sources are available. Then the authors derive the first-order term in the asymptotic expansion of the Dirichlet and Neumann traces and their surface derivatives on the boundary of the singular medium perturbation.

Findings

As the shape gradient of shape functionals are expressed in terms of boundary integrals involving the boundary traces of the state and the associated adjoint field, then the topological gradient formulae follow readily.

Originality/value

The authors exhibit singular perturbation asymptotics that can be reused in the derivation of the topological gradient function that generates initial guesses in the iterated numerical solution of any shape optimization problem or imaging problems relying on time-harmonic acoustic wave propagation.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 39 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 May 2021

Meisam Takalloozadeh and Gil Ho Yoon

Body forces are always applied to structures in the form of the weight of materials. In some cases, they can be neglected in comparison with other applied forces. Nevertheless…

Abstract

Purpose

Body forces are always applied to structures in the form of the weight of materials. In some cases, they can be neglected in comparison with other applied forces. Nevertheless, there is a wide range of structures in civil and mechanical engineering in which weight or other types of body forces are the main portions of the applied loads. The optimal topology of these structures is investigated in this study.

Design/methodology/approach

Topology optimization plays an increasingly important role in structural design. In this study, the topological derivative under body forces is used in a level-set-based topology optimization method. Instability during the optimization process is addressed, and a heuristic solution is proposed to overcome the challenge. Moreover, body forces in combination with thermal loading are investigated in this study.

Findings

Body forces are design-dependent loads that usually add complexity to the optimization process. Some problems have already been addressed in density-based topology optimization methods. In the present study, the body forces in a topological level-set approach are investigated. This paper finds that the used topological derivative is a flat field that causes some instabilities in the optimization process. The main novelty of this study is a technique used to overcome this challenge by using a weighted combination.

Originality/value

There is a lack of studies on level-set approaches that account for design-dependent body forces and the proposed method helps to understand the challenges posed in such methods. A powerful level-set-based approach is used for this purpose. Several examples are provided to illustrate the efficiency of this method. Moreover, the results show the effect of body forces and thermal loading on the optimal layout of the structures.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 38 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 14 December 2021

Phillip Baumann and Kevin Sturm

The goal of this paper is to give a comprehensive and short review on how to compute the first- and second-order topological derivatives and potentially higher-order topological…

Abstract

Purpose

The goal of this paper is to give a comprehensive and short review on how to compute the first- and second-order topological derivatives and potentially higher-order topological derivatives for partial differential equation (PDE) constrained shape functionals.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employ the adjoint and averaged adjoint variable within the Lagrangian framework and compare three different adjoint-based methods to compute higher-order topological derivatives. To illustrate the methodology proposed in this paper, the authors then apply the methods to a linear elasticity model.

Findings

The authors compute the first- and second-order topological derivatives of the linear elasticity model for various shape functionals in dimension two and three using Amstutz' method, the averaged adjoint method and Delfour's method.

Originality/value

In contrast to other contributions regarding this subject, the authors not only compute the first- and second-order topological derivatives, but additionally give some insight on various methods and compare their applicability and efficiency with respect to the underlying problem formulation.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 39 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 October 2021

Frédérique Le Louër and María-Luisa Rapún

The purpose of this paper is to revisit the recursive computation of closed-form expressions for the topological derivative of shape functionals in the context of time-harmonic…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to revisit the recursive computation of closed-form expressions for the topological derivative of shape functionals in the context of time-harmonic acoustic waves scattering by sound-soft (Dirichlet condition), sound-hard (Neumann condition) and isotropic inclusions (transmission conditions).

Design/methodology/approach

The elliptic boundary value problems in the singularly perturbed domains are equivalently reduced to couples of boundary integral equations with unknown densities given by boundary traces. In the case of circular or spherical holes, the spectral Fourier and Mie series expansions of the potential operators are used to derive the first-order term in the asymptotic expansion of the boundary traces for the solution to the two- and three-dimensional perturbed problems.

Findings

As the shape gradients of shape functionals are expressed in terms of boundary integrals involving the boundary traces of the state and the associated adjoint field, then the topological gradient formulae follow readily.

Originality/value

The authors exhibit singular perturbation asymptotics that can be reused in the derivation of the topological gradient function in the iterated numerical solution of any shape optimization or imaging problem relying on time-harmonic acoustic waves propagation. When coupled with converging Gauss−Newton iterations for the search of optimal boundary parametrizations, it generates fully automatic algorithms.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 39 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 July 2020

Magdy A. Ezzat

In the present paper, the new concept of “memory dependent derivative” in the Pennes’ bioheat transfer and heat-induced mechanical response in human living tissue with variable…

Abstract

Purpose

In the present paper, the new concept of “memory dependent derivative” in the Pennes’ bioheat transfer and heat-induced mechanical response in human living tissue with variable thermal conductivity and rheological properties of the volume is considered.

Design/methodology/approach

A problem of cancerous layered with arbitrary thickness is considered and solved analytically by Kirchhoff and Laplace transformation. The analytical expressions for temperature, displacement and stress are obtained in the Laplace transform domain. The inversion technique for Laplace transforms is carried out using a numerical technique based on Fourier series expansions.

Findings

Comparisons are made with the results anticipated through the coupled and generalized theories. The influence of variable thermal, volume materials properties and time-delay parameters for all the regarded fields for different forms of kernel functions is examined.

Originality/value

The results indicate that the thermal conductivity and volume relaxation parameters and MDD parameter play a major role in all considered distributions. This dissertation is an attempt to provide a theoretical thermo-viscoelastic structure to help researchers understand the complex thermo-mechanical processes present in thermal therapies.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 31 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2001

Jaroslav Mackerle

Gives a bibliographical review of the error estimates and adaptive finite element methods from the theoretical as well as the application point of view. The bibliography at the…

1682

Abstract

Gives a bibliographical review of the error estimates and adaptive finite element methods from the theoretical as well as the application point of view. The bibliography at the end contains 2,177 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with the subjects that were published in 1990‐2000.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 18 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 September 2021

Alfredo Canelas and Jean Rodolphe Roche

In this paper the authors review the recent numerical techniques proposed to solve the forward and inverse problems concerning the electromagnetic casting and electromagnetic…

Abstract

Purpose

In this paper the authors review the recent numerical techniques proposed to solve the forward and inverse problems concerning the electromagnetic casting and electromagnetic levitation techniques of the metallurgical industry. In addition, the authors present a new topology optimization method to solve the inverse axisymmetric electromagnetic levitation problem.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed method is based on an exact second-order topological expansion of a Kohn–Vogelius-like functional specially devised for this problem.

Findings

Through some examples the authors show that it can find suitable solutions efficiently.

Originality/value

The new method completes the set of efficient methods available to solve the inverse electromagnetic casting and the inverse axisymmetric electromagnetic levitation problems.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 39 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2014

Diego Esteves Campeão, Sebastian Miguel Giusti and Andre Antonio Novotny

– The purpose of this paper is to compare between two methods of volume control in the context of topological derivative-based structural optimization of Kirchhoff plates.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare between two methods of volume control in the context of topological derivative-based structural optimization of Kirchhoff plates.

Design/methodology/approach

The compliance topology optimization of Kirchhoff plates subjected to volume constraint is considered. In order to impose the volume constraint, two methods are presented. The first one is done by means of a linear penalization method. In this case, the penalty parameter is the coefficient of a linear term used to control the amount of material to be removed. The second approach is based on the Augmented Lagrangian method which has both, linear and quadratic terms. The coefficient of the quadratic part controls the Lagrange multiplier update of the linear part. The associated topological sensitivity is used to devise a structural design algorithm based on the topological derivative and a level-set domain representation method. Finally, some numerical experiments are presented allowing for a comparative analysis between the two methods of volume control from a qualitative point of view.

Findings

The linear penalization method does not provide direct control over the required volume fraction. In contrast, through the Augmented Lagrangian method it is possible to specify the final amount of material in the optimized structure.

Originality/value

A strictly simple topology design algorithm is devised and used in the context of compliance structural optimization of Kirchhoff plates under volume constraint. The proposed computational framework is quite general and can be applied in different engineering problems.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 31 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

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