Topology Optimization of Compliant Mechanisms Considering Manufacturing Uncertainty, Fatigue, and Static Failure Constraints

Abstract

This study presents a new robust formulation for the topology optimization of compliant mechanisms, addressing the design challenges while considering manufacturability, static strength, and fatigue failure. A three-field density projection is implemented to control the minimum size of both real-phase and null-phase material structures to meet the manufacturing process requirements. The static strength is evaluated via the sum of the amplitude and the mean absolute value of the signed von Mises stress. The fatigue failure is solved via the modified Goodman criterion. The real output displacement is optimized by adding artificial springs to the prescribed value. This approach is implemented based on an improved solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP) interpolation method to describe and solve the optimization model and derive the shape sensitivity of the optimization problem. Finally, two numerical examples are applied to illustrate the effectiveness of the presented method.