GOALI/Collaborative Research: Topology Optimization for Additively Manufactured Metal Castings

GOALI/合作研究：增材制造金属铸件的拓扑优化

• 批准号: 1462089
• 负责人: Christopher Williams
• 金额: $ 24.27万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-06-01 至 2019-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1462089&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: GOALI; Collaborative; Research; Topology; Optimization

This Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) Program collaborative research award will develop an integrated design-manufacture framework by coupling topology optimization design methods with additive manufacturing processes. Topology optimization is a systematic, computational tool for designing high performance devices and components. Topology-optimized designs, however, are often geometrically complex and thus difficult, if not impossible, to fabricate with traditional manufacturing processes. Additive manufacturing is arising as a potential means for overcoming this obstacle, as its layer-wise fabrication approach enables the creation of geometrically complex components without negatively affecting production cost or throughput. However, despite this natural synergy, additive manufacturing and topology optimization approaches have not yet been integrated into a comprehensive design-manufacture framework. Without this integration, topology-optimized designs may be incompatible with additive manufacturing and require tedious and potentially deleterious post-process alterations to conform to manufacturing restrictions. The primary goal of this research is thus to optimize parts for as-built conditions by (i) identifying, characterizing, and understanding the aspects of an additive manufacturing process that impose constraints on part geometry and (ii) advancing topology optimization methods to incorporate these constraints. Thus the work will substantially improve both the efficiency of the engineering design process and the efficacy of the resultant engineered artifacts. The integrated design-manufacture optimization capability will be of considerable benefit to a broad range of industries, including automotive, agricultural, and aerospace where (for example) the realization of lightweight large-scale components could lead to substantial energy savings. The multidisciplinary research team will also create integrated educational modules and provide research opportunities for underrepresented groups.As manufacturing constraints are specific to each additive manufacturing process, the research team will focus on designing components to be manufactured via the 3D sand printing process in which metal parts are made by casting molten metal into 3D printed sand molds. The team will identify, characterize, and quantify the aspects of this additive manufacturing and metal casting process chain that impose constraints on component geometry and mathematically incorporate these constraints into the topology optimization method. The topology optimization approach will have roots in projection-based algorithms where manufacturing design variables are coupled to the physical and analysis spaces to naturally achieve manufacturability. Maintaining rigor in the design framework will facilitate extension to other
materials and additive manufacturing processes. The team will design, fabricate, and experimentally test an engineered component for a case-study (provided by the industrial partner) to validate the developed design-manufacture framework.

GOALI项目合作研究奖将通过将拓扑优化设计方法与附加制造工艺相结合来开发一个集成的设计-制造框架。拓扑优化是一种系统的计算工具，用于设计高性能设备和组件。然而，拓扑优化设计通常在几何上很复杂，因此很难，如果不是不可能的话，用传统的制造工艺制造。添加剂制造是克服这一障碍的潜在手段，因为它的分层制造方法能够在不对生产成本或产量产生负面影响的情况下制造几何复杂的部件。然而，尽管存在这种自然的协同效应，但加法制造和拓扑优化方法尚未整合到一个全面的设计-制造框架中。如果没有这种集成，拓扑优化设计可能与附加制造不兼容，并且需要进行繁琐且可能有害的后处理更改，以符合制造限制。因此，本研究的主要目标是通过(I)识别、表征和了解附加制造过程中对零件几何形状施加约束的各个方面，以及(Ii)提出结合这些约束的拓扑优化方法来优化零件在完工条件下的性能。因此，这项工作将大大提高工程设计过程的效率和所产生的工程制品的功效。集成的设计-制造优化能力将为包括汽车、农业和航空航天在内的广泛行业带来相当大的好处，例如，在这些行业中，实现轻量化的大型部件可能会带来大量的能源节约。多学科研究团队还将创建集成的教育模块，并为代表性不足的群体提供研究机会。由于每个添加剂制造过程都有特定的制造限制，研究团队将专注于设计通过3D砂印工艺制造的部件，在3D砂印工艺中，金属部件是通过将熔化的金属浇注到3D打印砂模中制造的。该团队将识别、表征和量化这种添加剂制造和金属铸造过程链中对部件几何形状施加约束的方面，并将这些约束数学地合并到拓扑优化方法中。拓扑优化方法将植根于基于投影的算法，其中制造设计变量耦合到物理和分析空间，以自然地实现可制造性。保持设计框架的严密性将有助于扩展到其他材料和附加制造工艺。该团队将为案例研究(由工业合作伙伴提供)设计、制造和试验性测试工程组件，以验证开发的设计-制造框架。