Design for structural flexibility using connected morphable components based topology optimization

In topology optimization of structures considering flexibility, degenerated optimal solutions, such as hinges, gray areas and disconnected structures may appear. In this paper, built upon the newly developed morphable component based topology optimization approach, a novel representation using connected morphable components (CMC) and a linkage scheme are proposed to prevent degenerating designs and to ensure structure integrity. A lower bound condition of the thickness of each component is also incorporated to completely remove the smallest components in an optimal configuration. Designs of flexible structures, such as compliant mechanism design, maximum compliance structure design, and design of low-frequency resonating micro devices are studied to validate the proposed methodology. Our work demonstrates that the new methodology can successfully prevent degeneration solutions and possesses other advantages, such as minimum member size control in topology optimization of flexible structures.