Incorporating Manufacturing Constraints in Topology Optimization Methods: A Survey

Abstract

Topology optimization provides optimized solutions with complex geometries which are often not suitable for direct manufacturing without further steps or post-processing by the designer. There has been a recent progression towards linking topology optimization with additive manufacturing, which is less restrictive than traditional manufacturing methods, but the technology is still in its infancy being costly, time-consuming, and energy inefficient. For applications in automotive or aerospace industries, the traditional manufacturing processes are still preferred and utilized to a far greater extent. Adding manufacturing constraints within the topology optimization framework eliminates the additional design steps of interpreting the topology optimization result and converting it to viable manufacturable parts. Furthermore, unintended but inevitable deviations that occur during manual conversion from the topology optimized result can be avoided. In this paper, we review recent advances to integrate (traditional) manufacturing constraints in the topology optimization process. The focus is on the methods that can create manufacturable and well-defined geometries. The survey will discuss the advantages, limitations, and related challenges of manufacturability in topology optimization.

Topology optimization for multi-axis machining

“…Here we briefly review related efforts for 2.5D machining and other manufacturing restrictions involving similar challenges. For a more general overview of research on the broader topic of manufacturing constraints for topology optimization, the reader is referred to recent surveys [3,6,7]. Regarding the topic of feature size control, we refer to [8] and the references therein.…”

Topology optimization with accessibility constraint for multi-axis machining

“…The literature on TO with manufacturability constraints is broad, and our brief overview of the most relevant works in this section is by no means comprehensive. More detailed surveys can be found in [11][12][13][14].…”