INVESTIGATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF SENSITIVITY FILTER RADIUS ON THE TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION OF A 3D ISOTROPIC ELASTIC MATERIAL DOMAIN

Topology optimization (TO) is a mathematical approach used to optimize material distribution within a predefined design space to achieve a specific performance goal. In TO, the choice of sensitivity filter radius plays a crucial role in determining the final design. This study investigates the influence of sensitivity filter radius on the optimal structural configuration within a 3D isotropic elastic material domain. The optimization process employed the SIMP (Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization) method to generate an optimal model for 3D isotropic elastic materials. The objective function aimed at minimizing compliance, with iterative density updates applied to the design. It was observed that using a filter radius greater than approximately 1/10 of the structure's length resulted in inefficient material utilization, leading to significant underuse of the design space. The study also explored various boundary conditions and identified that a filter radius of approximately 1/30 of the design domain length yields the most efficient structural configuration, achieving convergence after approximately 85 iterations. These results are vital for optimizing structural designs that need to meet specific boundary conditions.