Multi-scale design and optimization for solid-lattice hybrid structures and their application to aerospace vehicle components

By integrating topology optimization and lattice-based optimization, a novel multi-scale design method is proposed to create solid-lattice hybrid structures and thus to improve the mechanical performance as well as reduce the structural weight. To achieve this purpose, a two-step procedure is developed to design and optimize the innovative structures. Initially, the classical topology optimization is utilized to find the optimal material layout and primary load carrying paths. Afterwards, the solid-lattice hybrid structures are reconstructed using the finite element mesh based modeling method. And lattice-based optimization is performed to obtain the optimal crosssection area of the lattice structures. Finally, two typical aerospace structures are optimized to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed optimization framework. The numerical results are quite encouraging since the solid-lattice hybrid structures obtained by the presented approach show remarkably improved performance when compared with traditional designs. ? 2020 Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The new method combines topology optimization and lattice optimization to create solid-lattice hybrid structures, improving mechanical performance and reducing structural weight effectively.