USNCCM 15: US National Congress on Computational Mechanics
Vignesh Perumal presented at the USNCCM15: US National Congress on Computational Mechanics, July 28-August 1, Austin, Tx.
Title:
An Integrated Optimization Approach for Additive Manufacturing of Aerospace Parts
Authors:
Vignesh Perumal, Ahmad Raeisi Najafi, Antonios Kontsos
Abstract:
Weight reduction while maintaining mechanical performance is an important objective of optimization methods used in relation to Additive Manufacturing (AM) of metallic aerospace parts. In this context, lattices provide a way of reducing the non-critical mass while maintaining the desired performance. For example, a functionally graded lattice has been shown to have the lowest strain energy for a given loading envelope compared to other lattice configurations. In this talk, a two-step approach is presented to achieve the objective of AM material optimization. The first step involves optimizing the design domain using topology optimization (TO) to minimize compliance. Then, in the second step, the non-critical, bulky sections of the optimized domain are populated with lattices of uniformly sized unit cells. A lattice and skin optimization (LSO) is run on the members and the enclosing skin of the resulting structure. This results in a functionally graded lattice with non-uniform thickness in regions of higher compliance. Convergence to the optimum solution is attained by solving the optimization problem in an iterative manner. Computational results are shown for a number of selected geometries related to aerospace material applications. The presented results were verified by finite element analysis in static and dynamic analyses. In addition, a select number of optimized geometries was printed to evaluate their performance compared to the corresponding solid ones and assess the potential of the proposed method.