Concurrent topology optimization of two-scale structures with minimum width control in microscale by using a M-VCUT level set based model of microstructures

A method is proposed to control the minimum width in microscale for concurrent topology optimization of two-scale structures by using a M-VCUT level set model of microstructures. The key idea is to construct a data-driven model of microstructures that satisfies the requirement of minimum width in an off-line phase. Especially, a topology variable is assigned to each virtual microstructure to eliminate it if it is inefficient. During the on-line phase of concurrent topology optimization, a simple numerical relationship between the design variables and the effective mechanical properties of microstructure is used for efficient finite element analysis in the macroscale . The results of several numerical examples prove that the proposed method is effective.