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<p>The design of Compliant Mechanisms (CM) using Topology Optimization (TO) has been extensively explored in the literature. However, Pressure-actuated Compliant Mechanisms (Pa-CMs) have received comparatively less attention in this field. The topology optimization methods developed to design Pa-CMs can be applied for a large number of relevant problems such as soft robots, bio-inspired systems and fluid–structure systems. This work performs Pa-CM optimizations using the Bi-directional Evolutionary Structural Optimization (BESO) method, exploring the advantages of discrete variable TO approaches. To reduce the influence of significant topology variations in each BESO iteration, the constraining model Virtual Flux Method (VFM) was employed. To prevent connections between fluid and void domains, as well as between different fluid domains in multi-pressure-actuated scenarios, the VFM was used to impose a wall thickness constraint between these different regions. The performed optimizations indicated that BESO is capable of achieving novel Pa-CMs topologies with good performances. Likewise, the VFM ensures a smoother evolution of the topology but at the cost of reducing the actuation displacement. Notably, the VFM proved to be effective in cases of multiple fluids, mitigating inherent instability during the evolution of the TO method. Herewith, these findings demonstrated a potential for further application in nonlinear analyses (material nonlinearity and large displacements).</p>

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Imposing a connection constraint on discrete variable topology optimization of pressure-actuated compliant mechanism

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年10月24日

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  • Vitor Hugo Lopes Costa Lima,
  • Daniel Candeloro Cunha,
  • Heitor Nigro Lopes,
  • Renato Pavanello

摘要

The design of Compliant Mechanisms (CM) using Topology Optimization (TO) has been extensively explored in the literature. However, Pressure-actuated Compliant Mechanisms (Pa-CMs) have received comparatively less attention in this field. The topology optimization methods developed to design Pa-CMs can be applied for a large number of relevant problems such as soft robots, bio-inspired systems and fluid–structure systems. This work performs Pa-CM optimizations using the Bi-directional Evolutionary Structural Optimization (BESO) method, exploring the advantages of discrete variable TO approaches. To reduce the influence of significant topology variations in each BESO iteration, the constraining model Virtual Flux Method (VFM) was employed. To prevent connections between fluid and void domains, as well as between different fluid domains in multi-pressure-actuated scenarios, the VFM was used to impose a wall thickness constraint between these different regions. The performed optimizations indicated that BESO is capable of achieving novel Pa-CMs topologies with good performances. Likewise, the VFM ensures a smoother evolution of the topology but at the cost of reducing the actuation displacement. Notably, the VFM proved to be effective in cases of multiple fluids, mitigating inherent instability during the evolution of the TO method. Herewith, these findings demonstrated a potential for further application in nonlinear analyses (material nonlinearity and large displacements).