GPU acceleration for evolutionary topology optimization of continuum structures using isosurfaces

Evolutionary topology optimization of three-dimensional continuum structures is a computationally demanding task in terms of memory consumption and processing time. This work aims to alleviate these constraints proposing a well-suited strategy for Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) computing. Such a proposal adopts a fine-grained GPU instance of matrix-free iterative solver for structural analysis and an efficient GPU implementation for isosurface extraction and volume fraction calculation. The performance of the solving stage is evaluated using two preconditioning techniques, including the comparison with the sparse-matrix CPU implementation. The proposal is evaluated using topology optimization problems for real-world applications. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.