On P-refinement in Topology Optimization

Structural topology optimization is carried out by optimizing relative density; i.e., design variable in each element is refined by refining the FE mesh size, where the number of density elements is scaled up beside the increase in interpolation order of finite elements. Higher-order elements can be used to obtain more realistic solutions compared to solutions with lower-order elements which includes the stability of numerical solution. In this technical script, dominance of p-refinement in topology optimization by solid isotropic material with penalization includes compliance values and computational time for various topology optimization problems.