Topology optimization of thermo-elastic structures with multiple materials under mass constraint

2016 ◽  
Vol 173 ◽  
pp. 150-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tong Gao ◽  
Pengli Xu ◽  
Weihong Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Topology Optimization ◽  
Elastic Structures ◽  
Mass Constraint ◽  
Multiple Materials

Evolutionary Topology Optimization of Spatial Steel-Concrete Structures

2021 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-112
Author(s):  
Yu Li ◽  
Yi Min Xie
Keyword(s):  
Topology Optimization ◽  
Composite Structures ◽  
Optimization Technique ◽  
Optimization Techniques ◽  
Principal Stresses ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Floor Systems ◽  
Beso Method ◽  
Multiple Materials ◽  
Single Material

Topology optimization techniques based on finite element analysis have been widely used in many fields, but most of the research and applications are based on single-material structures. Extended from the bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) method, a new topology optimization technique for 3D structures made of multiple materials is presented in this paper. According to the sum of each element's principal stresses in the design domain, a material more suitable for this element would be assigned. Numerical examples of a steel- concrete cantilever, two different bridges and four floor systems are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and practical value of the proposed method for the conceptual design of composite structures made of steel and concrete.

A modified leaky ReLU scheme (MLRS) for topology optimization with multiple materials

2019 ◽  
Vol 352 ◽  
pp. 188-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yisi Liu ◽  
Xiaojun Wang ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Dongliang Liu
Keyword(s):  
Topology Optimization ◽  
Multiple Materials

Topology Optimization of Multimaterial Thermoelectric Structures

2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoqiang Xu ◽  
Yongjia Wu ◽  
Lei Zuo ◽  
Shikui Chen
Keyword(s):  
Topology Optimization ◽  
Thermoelectric Materials ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Oil Refining ◽  
Numerical Verification ◽  
Temperature Range ◽  
Multiple Materials ◽  
P Type

Abstract A large amount of energy from power plants, vehicles, oil refining, and steel or glass making process is released to the atmosphere as waste heat. The thermoelectric generator (TEG) provides a way to reutilize this portion of energy by converting temperature differences into electricity using Seebeck phenomenon. Because the figures of merit zT of the thermoelectric materials are temperature-dependent, it is not feasible to achieve high efficiency of the thermoelectric conversion using only one single thermoelectric material in a wide temperature range. To address this challenge, the authors propose a method based on topology optimization to optimize the layouts of functional graded TEGs consisting of multiple materials. The multimaterial TEG is optimized using the solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP) method. Instead of dummy materials, both the P-type and N-type electric conductors are optimally distributed with two different practical thermoelectric materials. Specifically, Bi2Te3 and Zn4Sb3 are selected for the P-type element while Bi2Te3 and CoSb3 are employed for the N-type element. Two optimization scenarios with relatively regular domains are first considered with one optimizing on both the P-type and N-type elements simultaneously, and the other one only on single P-type element. The maximum conversion efficiency could reach 9.61% and 12.34% respectively in the temperature range from 25 °C to 400 °C. CAD models are reconstructed based on the optimization results for numerical verification. A good agreement between the performance of the CAD model and optimization result is achieved, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Multimaterial Topology Optimization of Thermoelectric Generators

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoqiang Xu ◽  
Yongjia Wu ◽  
Lei Zuo ◽  
Shikui Chen
Keyword(s):  
Topology Optimization ◽  
Conversion Efficiency ◽  
Thermoelectric Materials ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Computational Simulation ◽  
Oil Refining ◽  
Temperature Range ◽  
Multiple Materials

Abstract Over 50% of the energy from power plants, vehicles, oil refining, and steel or glass making process is released to the atmosphere as waste heat. As an attempt to deal with the growing energy crisis, the solid-state thermoelectric generator (TEG), which converts the waste heat into electricity using Seebeck phenomenon, has gained increasing popularity. Since the figures of merit of the thermoelectric materials are temperature dependent, it is not feasible to achieve high efficiency of the thermoelectric conversion using only one single thermoelectric material in a wide temperature range. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a method based on topology optimization to optimize the layouts of functional graded TEGs consisting of multiple materials. The objective of the optimization problem is to maximize the output power and conversion efficiency as well. The proposed method is implemented using the Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization (SIMP) method. The proposed method can make the most of the potential of different thermoelectric materials by distributing each material into its optimal working temperature interval. Instead of dummy materials, both the P and N-type electric conductors are optimally distributed with two different practical thermoelectric materials, namely Bi2Te3 & PbTe for P-type, and Bi2Te3 & CoSb3 for N-type respectively, with the yielding conversion efficiency around 12.5% in the temperature range Tc = 25°C and Th = 400°C. In the 2.5D computational simulation, however, the conversion efficiency shows a significant drop. This could be attributed to the mismatch of the external load and internal TEG resistance as well as the grey region from the topology optimization results as discussed in this paper.

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