ISOGEOMETRIC TOPOLOGY OPTIMISATION OF CONTINUUM STRUCTURES USING EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHM

Topology optimization has been an interesting area of research in the recent years. The main focus of this paper is to use evolutionary swarm intelligence algorithm to perform Isogeometric Topology optimization of continuum structures. A two dimensional plate is analysed statically and the nodal displacements are calculated. The nodal displacements using Isogeometric analysis were found to be in good agreement with the nodal displacements obtained using standard finite element analysis. The sizing optimization of the beam is then performed. The formulation to determine the stress at any point in the beam is presented. The optimal cross section dimensions by performing Isogeometric analysis are obtained and verified with the cross section dimensions obtained by using bending stress and shear stress criteria as well. The topology optimization of a two dimensional simply supported plate continuum and a problem on three dimensional continuum are optimized and presented. The results show that the minimum weight obtained by applying Isogeometric topology optimization gives better results over traditional finite element analysis.