Three-dimensional structural topology optimization of aerial vehicles under aerodynamic loads
Date
2013-11-28
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Computers & Fluids
Abstract
A previously developed density distribution-based structural topology optimization algorithm coupled
with a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solver for aerodynamic force predictions is extended to solve
large-scale problems to reveal inner structural details of a wing wholly rather than some specific regions.
Resorting to an iterative conjugate gradient algorithm for the solution of the structural equilibrium
equations needed at each step of the topology optimizations allowed the solution of larger size problems,
which could not be handled previously with a direct equation solver. Both the topology optimization and
CFD codes are parallelized to obtain faster solutions. Because of the complexity of the computed aerody namic loads, a case study involving optimization of the inner structure of the wing of an unmanned aerial
vehicle (UAV) led to topologies, which could not be obtained by intuition alone. Post-processing features
specifically tailored for visualizing computed topologies proved to be good design tools in the hands of
designers for identifying complex structural components.
Description
Keywords
mechanical engineering