This book challenges many assumptions commonly used in structural topology optimization. These assumptions include: (1) to find the unique and globally optimal solution—the ‘best’ design, (2) under prescribed support conditions, (3) for given loading conditions, (4) within a predetermined design domain, and (5) without considering the designer’s aesthetic preferences. Through a systematic discussion and numerous examples, this book clearly shows that the traditional assumptions are not only unnecessary, but also imposing severe limitations on design freedom and hindering creativity in structural design. The generalized topology optimization framework presented in this book breaks the mold of many conventional thoughts in structural topology optimization. The new framework will enable topology optimization techniques to solve a much wider range of practical problems. This book appeals to researchers and graduate students working in structural design and optimization and is of interest to civil and structural engineers, architects, mechanical engineers, and product designers involved in creating innovative and efficient structures.
This book is open access.
Chapter 1 Introduction.
Chapter 2 Achieving diverse and competitive
designs.
Chapter 3 Redefining the design domain.- Chapter 4 Optimizing
support locations.
Yi Min Xie is currently a professor of Hohai University in China. Prior to this, he was an Australian Laureate Fellow and a Distinguished Professor of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia. He received his bachelors degree in engineering mechanics from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, in 1984 and earned his Ph.D. in computational mechanics from Swansea University, UK, in 1991. He played a leading role in developing the widely used evolutionary structural optimization (ESO) method and the bidirectional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) method. Professor Xie was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2011. His research impact in the field of structural optimization was recognized by the 2017 AGM Michell Medal and the 2017 Clunies Ross Innovation Award. In 2022, he was named Sir John Holland Civil Engineer of the Year by the Institution of Engineers, Australia.
