A level set-based topology optimization approach for thermally radiating structures

• Published in: Structural and multidisciplinary optimization Vol. 65; no. 6
• Main Authors: Cohen, Brian S., March, Andrew I., Willcox, Karen E., Miller, David W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.06.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aerospace engineering; Aerospace systems; Algorithms; Boundary conditions; Computational Mathematics and Numerical Analysis; Design; Design optimization; Engineering; Engineering Design; Hypersonic aircraft; Initial conditions; Launch vehicles; Optimization; Research Paper; Sensitivity; Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Topology optimization; Topology optimization; Thermally radiating structures; Level set methods
• ISSN: 1615-147X; 1615-1488
• DOI: 10.1007/s00158-022-03261-6

The need for efficient thermally radiating structures is apparent in many aerospace system designs including satellites, launch vehicles, and hypersonic aircraft. This paper presents a novel level set-based topology optimization approach for designing thermally efficient radiating structures. In this paper, we derive a shape sensitivity of the thermal heat power radiated objective function using the adjoint method. This sensitivity is a necessary ingredient for our gradient-based algorithm. We apply an augmented Lagrangian method to solve an example 2D problem where the goal is to maximize heat power rejected subject to a material volume constraint. The radiating surface is kept fixed during the optimization to maintain a design-independent boundary condition, while the conducting region is optimized. Several solutions are illustrated with varying initial conditions. We also present a case study indicating that maximizing the thermal compliance functional is not sufficient for solving this class of problems.