Optimal Design of Structures and Materials (08/04/21)
Speaker and Affliation:
G.K. Ananthasuresh
Chair of Mechanical Engineering
Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore-560012
When?
08th April, 2021 (Thursday), 04:00 PM (India Standard Time)
Location
Abstract
Optimization of structures had occupied the great minds of scientists and engineers including James Clerk Maxwell, A. G. M. Michell, Gustave Eiffel, and more. Investigations into topology optimization of structures in the last three decades makes us wonder how optimal structures were conceived before mathematical and computational tools were available. In this talk, we begin with the ideas of Maxwell and Michell and discuss how gradient-based topology optimization is used today with a standard template of design parameterization and adjoint sensitivity analysis.
‘Material interpolation’, which is the key idea in topology optimization, will be discussed in the context of Multiphysics problems in structures and compliant mechanisms. A few examples of both will be presented in this talk. Architects too are embracing topology optimization. A passing reference will be made to the aesthetics in structural design following the ideas of M. C. Escher.
There has been a recent surge of interest in this field due to emerging additive manufacturing. This connects topology optimization of structures to ‘metamaterial design’. A natural extension of this is simultaneous optimization of structures and materials. Towards this, the talk will conclude with ongoing efforts in the design of fiber-reinforced structures and lattice structures with anisotropy and heterogeneity to achieve optimality.