Body in White of BMW 5 GT

Posted on September 21, 2011 by io

This nice presentation (link) shows us the wonderful BIW of BMW 5 GT. This is the first family car BIW that I have seen that has so many indications of being topology optimized. Just look at the following picture to see what I mean:

The fron section with all those struts and interestingly shaped structures is evidently the most direct application of big scale topology optimization in any family car. As a result it has a very high torsional rigidity of 31500 Nm/° higher than some supercar’s rigidity. Also the variety of materials used in the body is interesting. 14 types of steel and 7 types of aluminum alloys are used, seemingly utilizing the most suited material in wherever needed. The BIW is mostly steel with aluminum body panels.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Body in White of BMW 5 GT

Multi-Material Design for a Compact-Class Car Front Section

Posted on September 20, 2011 by io

Weight reduction of a compact car’s front section was studied in this article (link). Using topology optimization, and interpreting the results in two different ways, one cost effective and one weight optimized structure is developed. Cost effective structure uses mostly steel and some Al extrusions. Weight optimized one uses lots of aluminium, steel where necessary and magnesium for strut towers. Wheelhouses in both concepts are made of plastic. Respectively %18 and %38 weight reductions are reported. Also %7 and %31 cost increase is observed.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Multi-Material Design for a Compact-Class Car Front Section

Education Software for Engineering Students

Posted on September 13, 2011 by io

This is a little project that we were working on for a long time. It is a software that roughly simulates various manufaturing methods, making it a game like learning tool. We want to release it as a free tool for all the humanity to benefit, if we can get enough funds so that we can sustain the developement process. Please support the project or at least spread the word at link. Also we can have sponsorships arranged. If you are interested please contact the project manager at iozcan [at) timuhendislik [dot) com .

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Education Software for Engineering Students

Hi

Posted on September 2, 2011 by io

Welcome to Topology-Opt.com

We review topology optimization related applications, research and software in this website.

Due to the immense amount (thousands per day) of spam comments incoming, we cannot read all comments and resort to deleting them all. I hope spammers will give up at one point.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Hi

Topology Optimization for Conceptual Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures

Posted on August 4, 2011 by io

In this presentation by Oded Amir and Michael Bogomolny (link). A hybrid yield criterion between von-Mises and Drucker-Prager yield criteria is adopted to define mixtures of steel and concrete. Very interesting results were obtained revealing structures optimally reinforced with steel.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Topology Optimization for Conceptual Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures

Optimizing the Lamination Plan of a Canting Keel

Posted on July 31, 2011 by io

In this article (link) by N. Zehnder and P. Ermanni from Center of Structure Technologies, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, a composite boat keel’s laminate structure is optimized using various patch representations. The optimization is done using Evolutionary methods.

Posted in Research | Comments Off on Optimizing the Lamination Plan of a Canting Keel

Paneling Architectural Freeform Surfaces

Posted on July 27, 2011 by io

In this rather off-topic optimization article (link) optimization for manufacturing cost reduction of paneling surfaces used in architecture is discussed. I found the topic rather interesting and decided to write about it. It is stated that due to increasing usage of freeform buildings cost reduction is necessary, and as the problem is quite complex, advanced optimization techniques are developed. Especially mold usage is highlighted as it is the main cost. The group worked with famous architect Zaha Hadid for this project.

Posted in Research | Comments Off on Paneling Architectural Freeform Surfaces

Buckling Optimization of Laminated Hybrid Composite Shell Structures Using Discrete Material Optimization

Posted on July 20, 2011 by io

This article (link) titled “Buckling Optimization of Laminated Hybrid Composite Shell
Structures Using Discrete Material Optimization” studies optimization of wind turbine blades using Discrete Material Optimization (DMO). First a simply supported plane is optimized using continuous fibers and foam. A distribution of laminate areas with foam and continuous fibers with certain orientations is obtained. A very nice distribution is observed. Then a wind turbine blade is optimized using CFRP, GFRP and foam materials. It is stated that due to errors in the used shell model the results were not reliable, thus the results were not investigated much.

Posted in Research | Comments Off on Buckling Optimization of Laminated Hybrid Composite Shell Structures Using Discrete Material Optimization

THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE WIND TURBINE BLADES

Posted on July 19, 2011 by io

In this thesis “THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE WIND TURBINE BLADES AN INTEGRATED DESIGN APPROACH”(link) by Simon JONCAS, topology optimization is deployed to design a wind turbine blade. The thesis is quite long (273 pages), topology optimization related section is chapter 7. The results somehow resemble a previous work for aircraft wings. The final design implementations of the results are quite different than them, as implementation on such big structures can be very expensive.

The thesis is quite comprehensive and recommended for persons that will start working on wind turbines.

Posted in Research | Comments Off on THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE WIND TURBINE BLADES

Implementation of molding constraints

Posted on July 15, 2011 by io

In this article by S. Marx and A. Kristensen (link) implementation of molding constraints in topology optimization is discussed. A new algorithm is introduced. The algorithm checks the flow lines from a user defined nozzle to all the structure to ensure injection moldability. Also it checks the draw direction to ensure removal from the mold. Also uniform thickness is imposed.

Posted in Research | Comments Off on Implementation of molding constraints