Large-scale topology optimization in 3D using parallel computing

We consider large-scale topology optimization of elastic continua in 3D using the regularized intermediate density control introduced in [1]. The nested approach is used, i.e., equilibrium is solved at each iteration. To get a high-quality resolution of realistic designs in 3D, problems involving several hundreds of thousand finite elements are solved. In order to deal with problems of this size, parallel computing is used in combination with domain decomposition. The equilibrium equations are solved by a preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm and the optimization part is solved using sequential convex programming. Several numerical results obtained from computations performed on a Cray parallel computer axe presented. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.