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A general topology optimization method, which is capable of simultaneous design of density and orientation of anisotropic material, is proposed by introducing orientation design variables in addition to the density design variable. In this work, the Cartesian components of the orientation vector are utilized as the orientation design variables. The proposed method supports continuous orientation design, which is out of the scope of discrete material optimization approaches, as well as design using discrete angle sets. The advantage of this approach is that vector element representation is less likely to fail into local optima because it depends less on designs of former steps, especially compared with using the angle as a design variable (Continuous Fiber Angle Optimization) by providing a flexible path from one angle to another with relaxation of orientation design space. An additional advantage is that it is compatible with various projection or filtering methods such as sensitivity filters and density filters because it is free from unphysical bound or discontinuity such as the one at theta = 2 pi and theta = 0 seen with direct angle representation. One complication of Cartesian component representation is the point-wise quadratic bound of the design variables; that is, each pair of element values has to reside in a given circular bound. To overcome this issue, we propose an isoparametric projection method, which transforms box bounds into circular bounds by a coordinate transformation with isoparametric shape functions without having the singular point that is seen at the origin with polar coordinate representation. A new topology optimization method is built by taking advantage of the aforementioned features and modern topology optimization techniques. Several numerical examples are provided to demonstrate its capability. Copyright (C) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Summary This paper proposes a level-set based topology optimization method incorporating a boundary tracking mesh generating method and nonlinear programming. Because the boundary tracking mesh is always conformed to the structural boundary, good approximation to the boundary is maintained during optimization; therefore, structural design problems are solved completely without grayscale material. Previously, we introduced the boundary tracking mesh generating method into level-set based topology optimization and updated the design variables by solving the level-set equation. In order to adapt our previous method to general structural optimization frameworks, the incorporation of the method with nonlinear programming is investigated in this paper. To successfully incorporate nonlinear programming, the optimization problem is regularized using a double-well potential. Furthermore, the sensitivities with respect to the design variables are strictly derived to maintain consistency in mathematical programming. We expect the investigation to open up a new class of grayscale-free topology optimization. The usefulness of the proposed method is demonstrated using several numerical examples targeting two-dimensional compliant mechanism and metallic waveguide design problems. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

SUMMARY Most topology optimization problems are formulated as constrained optimization problems; thus, mathematical programming has been the mainstream. On the other hand, solving topology optimization problems using time evolution equations, seen in the level set-based and the phase field-based methods, is yet another approach. One issue is the treatment of multiple constraints, which is difficult to incorporate within time evolution equations. Another issue is the extra re-initialization steps that interrupt the time integration from time to time. This paper proposes a way to describe, using a Heaviside projection-based representation, a time-dependent diffusion equation that addresses these two issues. The constraints are treated using a modified augmented Lagrangian approach in which the Lagrange multipliers are updated by simple ordinary differential equations. The proposed method is easy to implement using a high-level finite element code. Also, it is very practical in the sense that one can fully utilize the existing framework of the code: GUI, parallelized solvers, animations, data imports/exports, and so on. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through numerical examples in both the planar and spatial cases. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

SUMMARY In the last decade, metamaterials have been gaining attention and have been investigated because of their unique characteristics, which conventional materials do not have, such as negative refraction indexes. However, it is sometimes difficult to design metamaterials on the basis of experience and theoretical considerations because the relationship between their electromagnetic characteristics and structure is often vague. A mathematical structural design methodology targeting metamaterials may therefore be useful for expanding the engineering applications of metamaterials in industry. In this paper, a new level set-based topology optimization method is proposed for designing composite right- and left-handed transmission lines, each of which consists of a waveguide and periodically located dielectric resonators. Such transmission lines function as a fundamental metamaterial. In the proposed method, the shape and topology of the dielectric resonators are represented by the level set function, and topology optimization problems are formulated on the basis of the level set-based representation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this paper, we propose a level set-based topology optimization method targeting metallic waveguide design problems, where the skin effect must be taken into account since the metallic waveguides are generally used in the high-frequency range where this effect critically affects performance. One of the most reasonable approaches to represent the skin effect is to impose an electric field constraint condition on the surface of the metal. To implement this approach, we develop a boundary-tracking scheme for the arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) mesh pertaining to the zero iso-contour of the level set function that is given in an Eulerian mesh, and impose Dirichlet boundary conditions at the nodes on the zero iso-contour in the ALE mesh to compute the electric field. Since the ALE mesh accurately tracks the zero iso-contour at every optimization iteration, the electric field is always appropriately computed during optimization. For the sensitivity analysis, we compute the nodal coordinate sensitivities in the ALE mesh and smooth them by solving a Helmholtz-type partial differential equation. The obtained smoothed sensitivities are used to compute the normal velocity in the level set equation that is solved using the Eulerian mesh, and the level set function is updated based on the computed normal velocity. Finally, the utility of the proposed method is discussed through several numerical examples. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper deals with formulation of dynamics of a moving flexible body in a local frame of reference. In a conventional approach the local frame is normally fixed to the corresponding body and always represents the positions and angles of the body: the positions and angles are represented by Cartesian coordinates and Euler angles or Euler parameters, respectively. The elastic degrees of freedom are expressed by, e.g. nodal coordinates in a finite element analysis, modal coordinates, etc. However, the choice of these variables as the generalized coordinates makes the resulting equations of motion extremely complicated. This is because the representation of the rotation of a body is highly non-linear and this non-linearity makes the coefficient matrices dependent on the coordinates themselves. In this paper, we propose an alternative way of treating the issue by explicitly predicting the body motions and regularly updating the local frame. First, the motion of the local frame is assumed to explicitly follow the associated moving body. Then, the equations of motion are derived in a set of generalized coordinates that express both rigid-body and elastic degrees of freedom in the local frame. These equations are solved by a time integration with a given time interval. The motion of the local frame in the interval is estimated from a prediction of the rigid-body motions. Then, the gap between the predicted and the actual motions is evaluated. Finally, the predictions are iteratively corrected by the obtained responses in the rigid-body motions so that the gap should remain within an imposed tolerance. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper deals with design of articulated mechanism using a truss-based ground-structure representation. The proposed method can accommodate extremely large displacement by considering geometric non-linearity. In addition, it can also control the mechanical degrees of freedom (DOF) of the resultant mechanism by using a DOF equation based on Maxwell's rule. The optimization is based on a relaxed formulation of an original integer problem and also involves developments directed at handling the redundancy inherent in the ground-structure representation. One planar test example is selected as the basis for the developments so as to compare the proposed method with other alternative approaches including a graph-theoretical enumeration approach which guarantees the identification of the globally optimal solution. Also, an inverter problem is treated where a continuation method is required in order to direct the optimization algorithm towards an integer solution. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.