Floating Projection Topology Optimization of Structures and Metamaterials

Prof Xiaodong Huang

School of Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia

Abstract: Topology optimization has become an important design tool not only for conventional engineering structures but also for cross-disciplinary acoustic and nanophotonic metamaterials. However, most topology optimization approaches fundamentally depend on the heuristic material penalization scheme or an equivalent and have a series of deficiencies for solving non-traditional compliance minimization problems. By breaking through this dependence, the floating projection topology optimization (FPTO) method generates a clear structural topology by imposing implicit 0/1 (void/solid) constraints on design variables without the need for material penalization. It facilitates many topology optimization problems using a simple linear material interpolation. This presentation will report recent developments of the FPTO method, particularly on stress minimization of large-scale continuum structures using GPU parallel computing, to demonstrate the advantages of the FPTO method. The results indicate that the stress-minimized structures could generate some new geometry features, such as strengthening ribs and full stress distribution, which have never been found in the compliance-minimized structures. Meanwhile, we will also demonstrate the versatile capabilities of the FPTO method for the inverse design of acoustic metamaterials with exotic properties, e.g., topological insulators and bound states in the continuum (BIC).

Keywords: Floating projection topology optimization (FPTO), stress minimization, acoustic metamaterials

Bio: Xiaodong Huang is a professor of engineering mechanics at the School of Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology. Before moving to Swinburne in 2017, he worked at RMIT University for 13 years. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on structural crashworthiness from Swinburne in 2004. 

Dr. Huang is currently a research leader in the field of topology optimization and its multidisciplinary applications. He is the primary innovator of the current bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) algorithm and the sole innovator of the floating projection topology optimization (FPTO) algorithm. The algorithms are widely welcomed in the research community of topology optimization and applied to the optimization design of various structures and materials. He has published one monograph and 200 SCI journal articles, with over 14,000 citations. 

Dr Huang was awarded with the ARC APD fellow in 2006 and the ARC Future Fellow in 2013. Dr. Huang was the conference chair of the sixth Australiasian Conference on Computational Mechanics (ACCM 2023). He is currently the College of Expert member of Australian Research Council (ARC) and Executive Committee member of the Australian Association for Computational Mechanics.