Design of Large-Displacement Compliant Mechanisms by Topology Optimization Incorporating Modified Additive Hyperelasticity Technique. (9th February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Liying; Xing, Jian; Yang, Qingwei; Luo, Yangjun
• Other Names: Garcea Giovanni Academic Editor.
• Is Part Of: Mathematical problems in engineering. Volume 2017(2017)
• Publication Date: 2017-02-09
• Subjects: Engineering mathematics -- Periodicals; 510.2462
• DOI: 10.1155/2017/4679746
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1024-123X

Abstract

Abstract : This paper is focused on the topology design of compliant mechanisms undergoing large displacement (over 20% of the structural dimension). Based on the artificial spring model and the geometrically nonlinear finite element analysis, the optimization problem is formulated so as to maximize the output displacement under a given material volume constraint. A modified additive hyperelasticity technique is proposed to circumvent numerical instabilities that occurred in the low-density or intermediate-density elements during the optimization process. Compared to the previous method, the modified technique is very effective and can provide more accurate response analysis for the large-displacement compliant mechanism. The whole optimization process is carried out by the gradient-based mathematical programming method. Numerical examples of a force-inverting mechanism and a microgripping mechanism are presented. The obtained optimal solutions verify the applicability of the proposed numerical techniques and show the necessity of considering large displacement in the design problem.