scholarly journals A Systems Approach of Topology Optimization for Bioinspired Material Structures Design Using Additive Manufacturing

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 8013
Author(s):  
William Patrick Ryan-Johnson ◽  
Larson Curtis Wolfe ◽  
Christopher Roder Byron ◽  
Jacquelyn Kay Nagel ◽  
Hao Zhang

Bioinspired design has been applied in sustainable design (e.g., lightweight structures) to learn from nature and support material structure functionalities. Natural structures usually require modification in practice because they were evolved in natural environmental conditions that can be different from industrial applications. Topology optimization is a method to find the optimal design solution by considering the material external physical environment. Therefore, integrating topology optimization into bioinspired design can benefit sustainable material structure designers in meeting the purpose of using bioinspired concepts to find the optimal solution in the material functional environment. Current research in both sustainable design and materials science, however, has not led to a method to assist material structure designers to design structures with bioinspired concepts and use topology optimization to find the optimal solution. Systems thinking can seamlessly fill this gap and provide a systemic methodology to achieve this goal. The objective of this research is to develop a systems approach that incorporates topology optimization into bioinspired design, and simultaneously takes into consideration additive manufacturing processing conditions to ensure the material structure functionality. The method is demonstrated with three lightweight material structure designs: spiderweb, turtle shell, and maze. Environmental impact assessment and finite element analysis were conducted to evaluate the functionality and emissions of the designs. This research contributes to the sustainable design knowledge by providing an innovative systems thinking-based bioinspired design of material structures. In addition, the research results enhance materials knowledge with an understanding of mechanical properties of three material structures: turtle shell, spiderweb, and maze. This research systemically connects four disciplines, including bioinspired design, manufacturing, systems thinking, and lightweight structure materials.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 7834
Author(s):  
Abas Ahmad ◽  
Michele Bici ◽  
Francesca Campana

For the past few decades, topology optimization (TO) has been used as a structural design optimization tool. With the passage of time, this kind of usage of TO has been extended to many application fields and branches, thanks to a better understanding of how manufacturing constraints can achieve a practical design solution. In addition, the advent of additive manufacturing and its subsequent advancements have further increased the applications of TO, raising the chance of competitive manufacturing. Design for additive manufacturing has also promoted the adoption of TO as a concept design tool of structural components. Nevertheless, the most frequent applications are related to lightweight design with or without design for assembly. A general approach to integrate TO in concept designs is still missing. This paper aims to close this gap by proposing guidelines to translate design requirements into TO inputs and to include topology and structural concerns at the early stage of design activity. Guidelines have been applied for the concept design of an inner supporting frame of an ancient bronze statue, with several constraints related to different general design requirements, i.e., lightweight design, minimum displacement, and protection of the statue’s structural weak zones to preserve its structural integrity. Starting from the critical analysis of the list of requirements, a set of concepts is defined through the application of TO with different set-ups (loads, boundary conditions, design and non-design space) and ranked by the main requirements. Finally, a validation of the proposed approach is discussed comparing the achieved results with the ones carried out through a standard iterative concept design.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (55) ◽  
pp. 119-135
Author(s):  
Felipe Fiorentin ◽  
Bernardo Oliveira ◽  
João Pereira ◽  
José Correia ◽  
Abilio M.P. de Jesus ◽  
...  

The main goal of the present research is to propose an integrated methodology to address the fatigue performance of topology optimized components, produced by additive manufacturing. The main steps of the component design will be presented, specially the methods and parameters applied to the topology optimization and the post-smoothing process. The SIMP method was applied in order to obtain a lighter component and a suitable stiffness for the desired application. In addition, since residual stresses are intrinsic to every metallic additive manufacturing process, the influence of those stresses will be also analyzed. The Laser Powder Bed Fusion was numerically simulated aiming at evaluating the residual stresses the workpiece during the manufacturing process and to investigate how they could influence the fatigue behavior of the optimized component. The effect of the built orientation of the workpiece on the residual stresses at some selected potential critical points are evaluated. The final design solution presented a stiffness/volume ratio nearly 6 times higher when compared to the initial geometry. By choosing the built orientation, it is possible impact favorably in the fatigue life of the component.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 161-171
Author(s):  
Ioannis Ntintakis ◽  
Georgios Eleftherios Stavroulakis ◽  
Niki Plakia

The designing process of a new product includes various stages, one of which is the evaluation of an idea thought prototype manufacturing. The use of additive manufacturing consists the most efficient and effective way for prototype manufacturing. In order to maximize the benefits from the use of additive manufacturing, we should choose the suitable printing parameters. A vital parameter for defining the quantity of raw material used and the model solidity is the inner wall thickness. Depending on the selected technique of additive manufacturing, the thickness of the inner wall may differ. In this study we initially print furniture models with different wall thicknesses using the Inject Binder technique and then we check their durability and resilience by compression tests. Evaluating the study results indicate the hollow printed specimens have high durability during compression tests and can be used to evaluate a design idea. Using the facts derived from lab tests we perform Topology Optimization studies under different circumstances to evaluate the method and come up with the optimal design solution. Initially, the Topology Optimization study concern only the table surface and not the whole model. The following studies were performed for the whole model, different constraints and load cases defined. Then, the optimized models are redesigned in order to improve their durability. The performed studies show that Topology Optimization is a powerful tool, which is able to support the designers/ engineers to take the right decision during the design process. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2020-01-04-03 Full Text: PDF


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2450
Author(s):  
Andreas Borowski ◽  
Christian Vogel ◽  
Thomas Behnisch ◽  
Vinzenz Geske ◽  
Maik Gude ◽  
...  

Continuous carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites have convincing anisotropic properties, which can be used to strengthen structural components in a local, variable and efficient way. In this study, an additive manufacturing (AM) process is introduced to fabricate in situ consolidated continuous fibre-reinforced polycarbonate. Specimens with three different nozzle temperatures were in situ consolidated and tested in a three-point bending test. Computed tomography (CT) is used for a detailed analysis of the local material structure and resulting material porosity, thus the results can be put into context with process parameters. In addition, a highly curved test structure was fabricated that demonstrates the limits of the process and dependent fibre strand folding behaviours. These experimental investigations present the potential and the challenges of additive manufacturing-based in situ consolidated continuous fibre-reinforced polycarbonate.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-172
Author(s):  
Gianna Moscardo

This paper argues that that much published tourism and hospitality research has had little influence on tourism or hospitality practice especially with regard to the problems of sustainability because of a failure to use systems thinking to guide research questions and approaches. This critical review and conceptual paper demonstrates how a systems thinking approach could be used to improve both the relevance of, and theoretical development in, tourism and hospitality research in the area of sustainability. This paper reviewed recent published research into tourism’s social impacts to demonstrate the power of taking a systems approach to map out the research problem area. It then critically reviewed the use of concepts from psychology in published research into guest engagement in sustainability programs in hospitality businesses to demonstrate the value of systems thinking for organising theoretical concepts. In both of the reviewed areas the overwhelming conclusion was that the majority of the research lacked both practical relevance and was based on inappropriate or deficient theoretical understanding.


Designs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Andreas K. Lianos ◽  
Harry Bikas ◽  
Panagiotis Stavropoulos

The design methodologies and part shape algorithms for additive manufacturing (AM) are rapidly growing fields, proven to be of critical importance for the uptake of additive manufacturing of parts with enhanced performance in all major industrial sectors. The current trend for part design is a computationally driven approach where the parts are algorithmically morphed to meet the functional requirements with optimized performance in terms of material distribution. However, the manufacturability restrictions of AM processes are not considered at the primary design phases but at a later post-morphed stage of the part’s design. This paper proposes an AM design method to ensure: (1) optimized material distribution based on the load case and (2) the part’s manufacturability. The buildability restrictions from the direct energy deposition (DED) AM technology were used as input to the AM shaping algorithm to grant high AM manufacturability. The first step of this work was to define the term of AM manufacturability, its effect on AM production, and to propose a framework to estimate the quantified value of AM manufacturability for the given part design. Moreover, an AM design method is proposed, based on the developed internal stresses of the build volume for the load case. Stress tensors are used for the determination of the build orientation and as input for the part morphing. A top-down mesoscale geometric optimization is used to realize the AM part design. The DED Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) rules are used to delimitate the morphing of the part, representing at the same time the freeform mindset of the AM technology. The morphed shape of the part is optimized in terms of topology and AM manufacturability. The topology optimization and AM manufacturability indicator (TMI) is introduced to screen the percentage of design elements that serve topology optimization and the ones that serve AM manufacturability. In the end, a case study for proof of concept is realized.


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