Application of Topology Optimisation to Steel Node-Connections and Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Structural Topology Optimisation (STO) is a prevalent optimisation technique used nowadays to reach desired weight-to-stiffness ratios via highly complex and efficient designs unable to achieve otherwise. Additive manufacturing (AM) is widely known in the manufacturing industry and provides designers with a higher degree of freedom in realising highly optimised designs through a layer-based fabrication process. This paper focuses on reticulated structures and proposes using STO and AM to design and fabricate alternative connection designs with outstanding bespoke performance and drastically reduced weight. It studies the optimisation of a conventional node-connection found in reticulated timber structures under four loading cases, to producing state-of-the-art optimised connection designs, each capable of withstanding one of the four selected loading cases. The results are compared with the conventional node-connection, and the optimised configurations achieved up to 46.9% weight reduction. A selection of the highly bespoke scaled-down designs was additively manufactured in two different materials (metallic and polymer) as a proof of concept for the capacity of the technologies available for future testing.

Smart Structures in Architectural Projects: Towards an interactive design framework combining multiscalar structural optimisation and custom-optimized structural nodes for generative design

“…Focussing structural complexity in custom-optimized steel connections reduced material use in structural systems (Abdelwahab and Tsavdaridis, 2021). Another trajectory of research was the application of structural criteria to the design of architectural geometries (Preisinger, 2013;Preisinger and Heimrath, 2014;Özdemir, 2021).…”

Analysis of Mechanical Characteristics of the Swing Angle Milling Head of a Heavy Computer Numerical Control Milling Machine and Research on the Light Weight of a Gimbal

“…Based on genetic algorithms, they conducted optimization research on the size and weight of five-axis machine tools. Abdelwahab et al [ 13 ] used topology optimization methods and AM manufacturing processes to reduce the weight of the machine tool box structure, while meeting the design requirements in terms of stiffness and strength. Kim, Seung-Gi et al [ 14 ] realized the optimal design of important structures such as the machine tool’s ram and column parts via the topological optimization method, and they achieved good rigidity and weight.…”

Proposal and experimental verification of additive manufactured beam‐column connection designed by topological optimization

“…[9]. More recently, Abdelwahab and Tsavdaridis [10] proposed a connection for a timber reticulated structure, combining STO with AM, for 4 loading situations. They compared the resulting connection with a conventional one and concluded that with the new design there was a reduction in weight of almost 50%.…”