GOALI: A Novel Strategy for Large-Scale Industrial Topology Optimization

本次学术与产业联系机会奖(GOALI)的研究目标是开发一种新颖而强大的拓扑优化方法。这项研究将通过与该奖项的工业合作伙伴水星海洋(WI)密切合作进行。具体任务是：(1)找出一套代表当今行业面临挑战的拓扑优化问题；(2)显著提高拓扑优化的速度和可靠性；(3)专注于产品实现和商业化。除了与工业合作伙伴合作外，这项研究还将利用学生在威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校设计的SAE方程式赛车对拓扑优化算法进行严格的测试。如果成功，这项研究将为拓扑优化这一数学丰富的学科提供新的刺激。将拓扑灵敏度理论应用于复杂的工程问题，将进一步加强拓扑灵敏度理论的应用。它将探索和挖掘现有拓扑优化方法与新方法的关系。通过行业互动，研究将创造更好的理解，制定和解决实际的拓扑优化问题。这项研究的更广泛的影响是：(1)更好的优化技术将导致物理原型的减少，并减少材料的使用；(2)威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的本科生和研究生将通过案例研究和水星海洋的夏季合作项目接触到拓扑优化；(3)产业互动的影响针对的是初出茅庐的工程师，他们将接触到研究、工业经验和正规教育的独特结合。这项研究具有变革性，因为它为拓扑优化提出了一个尚未被研究界研究的全新方向。

The research objective of this Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) award is to develop a novel and powerful topology optimization method. The research will be carried through close collaboration with Mercury Marine (WI), the industrial partner for this award. The specific tasks are: (1) to identify a set of topology optimization problems that are representative of the challenges faced by the industry today; (2) to significantly improve the speed and reliability of topology optimization; (3) to focus on product realization and commercialization. In addition to collaborating with the industrial partner, the research will leverage student-designed SAE Formula cars at UW-Madison to put the topology optimization algorithms to a rigorous test.If successful, the research will provide a fresh stimulus to the mathematically rich discipline of topology optimization. It will further strengthen the theory of topological sensitivity by applying it to complex problems of engineering interest. It will explore and exploit relationship between existing topology optimization methods and new method. Through industrial interaction, the research will create better understanding, formulation and solution of practical topology optimization problems. The broader impacts of the research are: (1) better optimization techniques will lead to reduced physical prototyping, and reduced material usage; (2) undergraduates and graduate students at UW-Madison will be exposed to topology optimization through case-studies, and summer co-ops at Mercury-Marine, and (3) the impact of the industrial interaction is on budding engineers who will be exposed to a unique blend of research, industrial experience and formal education. The research is transformative in that it suggests a fundamentally new direction for topology optimization that has not been investigated by the research community.