This paper on "Structural Topology Optimization" was presented at the 5th International Conference on Reliability of Finite Element Methods for Engineering Applications - 10-12 May 1995, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Abstract

Topology optimization of continuum structures is often reduced to a material distribution problem. The structural layout is determined whether there is or is not material in design patches. Since a large number of design patches is necessary to describe approximately the structural layout, this procedure leads to a large number of optimization variables and the result lacks in clearness and smoothness.
To overcome these shortcomings a new method is proposed adapting the effective design space of each design cycle to the present material distribution. Since this effective design space is approximated by cubic or Bézier splines, this procedure does not only decrease the number of design variables and leads to smooth results, moreover it can be directly joined to conventional shape optimization. With examples for maximum stiffness problems of elastic structures the quality of the proposed techniques is demonstrated.