Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2023
27th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Evolutionary Topology Optimization of Pressure-actuated Compliant Mechanisms
Submission Author:
Vitor Hugo Lima , SP
Co-Authors:
Vitor Hugo Lima, Claudia Marcela Perez Madrid, Heitor Nigro Lopes, Daniel Candeloro Cunha, Renato Pavanello
Presenter: Vitor Hugo Lima
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2023.COB2023-0285
Abstract
Compliant Mechanisms (CM) transmit movement without mechanical joints and use body deformation to achieve motion. In some applications, the CMs are fluid-actuated for what they are called Pressure-actuated Compliant Mechanisms (Pa-CM). This work used topology optimization to optimize the Pa-CMs structure by considering dependent loads to represent the fluid pressure. The Bidirectional Evolutionary Structural Optimization (BESO) method is adopted for this case, given that it uses discrete design variables. This discrete method allows well-defined geometric boundaries between solid and void for the structure. To include the design-dependent load problem, it was necessary to establish a new sensitivity analysis to determine the load influence over the structure and perform the mechanisms optimization. First, CM structures were optimized, leading to topologies similar to those reported in the literature. Then, the optimization of Pa-CM presented different compared to results found in previous works for benchmark Pa-CMs cases. A virtual flux method restriction was implemented to prevent unpredictable changes in the topology caused by the combination of fluid elements and large void regions already generated. The BESO found well-defined structures, considering dependent loads in the formulation. The virtual flux method showed potential applications for the improvement of the overall connectivity of the final topologies.
Keywords
BESO, Design Dependent Load, Pa-CM, Virtual flux method
