Multi-Physics Inverse Homogenization for the Design of Innovative Cellular Materials: Application to Thermo-Elastic Problems

We present a new algorithm to design lightweight cellular materials with required properties in a multi-physics context. In particular, we focus on a thermo-elastic setting by promoting the design of unit cells characterized both by an isotropic and an anisotropic behavior with respect to mechanical and thermal requirements. The proposed procedure generalizes the microSIMPATY algorithm to a thermo-elastic framework by preserving all the good properties of the reference design methodology. The resulting layouts exhibit non-standard topologies and are characterized by very sharp contours, thus limiting the post-processing before manufacturing. The new cellular materials are compared with the state-of-art in engineering practice in terms of thermo-elastic properties, thus highlighting the good performance of the new layouts which, in some cases, outperform the consolidated choices.

Automated summary

This paper presents a new algorithm for designing lightweight cellular materials with desired properties in a multi-physics context. It specifically focuses on thermo-elastic settings and promotes the design of unit cells with both isotropic and anisotropic behaviors in terms of mechanical and thermal requirements. The proposed algorithm extends the microSIMPATY algorithm to a thermo-elastic framework while preserving all the advantages of the reference design methodology. The resulting layouts exhibit unconventional topologies and sharp contours, reducing the need for post-processing before manufacturing. These new cellular materials demonstrate excellent thermo-elastic properties and sometimes outperform the current choices in engineering practice.