A novel topology optimization method of plate structure based on moving morphable components and grid structure

A novel moving morphable components (MMC)-based topology optimization method is proposed to solve topology optimization problems of plate structure subjected to out-of-plane load, by introducing a grid structure composed of beam elements to perform finite element analysis with the adaptive pruning of elements (APE) module. The grid structure can describe the mechanical property of the plate structure by using the model with concise expression of stiffness matrix. The APE can reduce the redundant degrees of freedom (DOFs) of the grid structure as an adaptive mesh technology to improve the efficiency of optimization. To validate the proposed method, the benchmark examples are tested in comparison with MMC method using Kirchhoff plate elements, which shows that the proposed method can obtain the consistent optimization results with less calculation cost under specified conditions. In addition, several non-centrosymmetric numerical examples considering model parameter and APE influences are discussed to demonstrate the proposed method’s characteristics in efficiency and stability.