A new level-set based approach to shape and topology optimization under geometric uncertainty

Geometric uncertainty refers to the deviation of the geometric boundary from its ideal position, which may have a non-trivial impact on design performance. Since geometric uncertainty is embedded in the boundary which is dynamic and changes continuously in the optimization process, topology optimization under geometric uncertainty (TOGU) poses extreme difficulty to the already challenging topology optimization problems. This paper aims to solve this cutting-edge problem by integrating the latest developments in level set methods, design under uncertainty, and a newly developed mathematical framework for solving variational problems and partial differential equations. Contributions of this work lie in the following three aspects: First, geometric uncertainty is quantitatively modeled by combing level set equation with a random normal boundary velocity field characterized by K-L expansion. Multivariate Gauss quadrature is employed to propagate the geometric uncertainty, which also facilitates shape sensitivity analysis by transforming a TOGU problem into a weighted summation of deterministic topology optimization problems. Second, a PDE-based approach is employed to overcome the deficiency of conventional level set model which cannot explicitly maintain the point correspondences between the current and the perturbed boundaries during the boundary perturbation process. With the explicit point correspondences, shape sensitivity defined on different perturbed designs can be mapped back to the current design, which makes it possible to create a single design velocity field to optimize the performances defined on different geometries. The proposed method is demonstrated with a bench mark structural design. Robust designs achieved with the proposed TOGU method are compared with their deterministic counterparts.