An Improved Method for Decreasing Intermediate Density Elements in Topology Optimization

The instability phenomenon of numerical solution usually exists in topology optimization of continuum structure. The sensitivity filter method is used to solve this instability phenomenon of numerical solution generally, but many intermediate density elements still exist in the result of topology optimization. Intermediate density elements are difficult to manufacture in the industry, so it is urgent to form an efficient method to decrease them. This paper proposes a improved method-considering density gradient message and elements numbers in the filter radius. It sets up a model which focus on modifying the weighting function and the elements' density within the filter radius. It is based on Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization (SIMP). The optimality criteria method (OC) is used to solve this model. Finally a widely studied example is used to demonstrate the availability and advantage of the proposed filter method.