Length scale control for structural optimization by level sets

The present paper proposes a novel structural optimization method to achieve length scale control on optimal designs in the level set framework. Size constraints are established with the use of the offset of structural boundaries as well as that of level set contours. Thus, the method requires no geometric skeleton during the optimization iterations, which would effectively improve computational efficiency. In addition, the size constraints are imposed in an explicit integral-type manner, thus facilitating the numerical implementation. The approach also enables to prescribe the minimum/maximum required member sizes to be precise values. Various design problems are solved to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.