Session: DFMLC-05-01: Design for Additive Manufacturing

Paper Number: 117039

117039 - The Impact of Additive Manufacturing Constraints and Design Objectives on Structural Topology Optimization 

Additive manufacturing (AM) is considered a more viable approach to traditional manufacturing methods, especially for high structural performance and advanced low-volume applications. Particularly, by incorporating topology optimization into additive manufacturing, both technologies could be exploited to their full potential. Structural topology optimization for additive manufacturing can be performed based on specific objective functions such as compliance, volume, or stress minimization, but a concise comparative analysis of these objective functions is needed to analyze their effects on the optimization. In addition, additive manufacturing constraints can significantly affect the results of optimal part geometry, part volume, support structure volume, and structural performance. In this study, three different objective functions such as compliance and stress are compared to each other with or without additive manufacturing constraints. and we investigate the best formulation that can be more effective for a designer or end user to define design problems for additive manufacturing. The comparison results demonstrate the effect of different additive manufacturing constraints such as overhang and different design objective functions on structural topology optimization. We found out that the build orientation plays a significant role when considering AM constraints in topology optimization, but its effectiveness varies depending on the geometric configuration and loading conditions. The inclusion of AM constraints increases the value of the objective function in topology optimization, but significantly reduces the required support structure volume.

Presenting Author: Babin Dangal Southern Illinois University

Presenting Author Biography: Babin Dangal is a graduate student in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Materials Engineering at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His research interests include metal additive manufacturing, structural topology optimization, and design for additive manufacturing.

Authors:

Babin Dangal Southern Illinois University
Sangjin Jung Southern Illinois University