THEORETICAL AND ALGORITHMIC ON TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION DESIGN OF DISTRIBUTED
COMPLIANT MECHANISMS

LUO Zhen¹  MENG Yongli²  GUO Wende²  CHEN Liping¹  ZHAO Yongsheng¹

(1. School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074;
2. Research Institute for Oil Extraction Technology, Xinjiang Oil Administration, Kelamayi 834000 )

Abstract: Topological optimization technology of continuum structures is extended to compliant mechanism designs. A kind of explicit updating scheme of design variables is worked out based on variable density method and optimality criteria. A new multi-criteria formulation is proposed for optimal topology design of compliant mechanisms using artificial spring model
and dummy load method, in which the mechanical efficiency of mechanism problems and stiffness of structure problems are both involved. Sensitivity analysis of objective function is per-formed by applying adjoint sensitivity analysis method. Nu-merical examples have been presented for demonstration of the effectiveness of the proposed approaches. The influences of some optimal parameters upon the resulting mechanisms are discussed and the reasonable value scopes have been suggested. Prototype manufacturing methodology is also employed to manufacture the typical compliant mechanism to prove the validation of the conceptual design.

Key words: Topology optimization Compliant mechanism Variable density method Optimality criteria Multi-criteria

CLC No: TH165 

国家973重点基础规划资助项目 (2003CB716207). Received 20051220, received in revised form 20060510