Tabu Search Algorithm And Reduced Design Space Methods For Optimum Synthesis Of Compliant Mechanisms

An approach to design compliant mechanisms starting from rigid-body solution is presented in this work. However, instead of starting the optimization with a topology of fully populated rectangular grid of finite elements, the method begins with a design region that the links of the corresponding rigid-body mechanism (RBM) are likely to occupy as the mechanism traverses the intended task. The aim is to reduce the complexity of topology optimization by reducing the number of design variables. Several space reduction ideas and associated objective criteria are presented. A tabu-gradient algorithm is developed and adapted to solve the optimization problem. Several examples are given to demonstrate the proposed method.