Bone-Remodelling-Based Structural Optimisation of a Perseverance-Inspired Rover Wheel-Support Component Using Meshless Methods

This study investigates the structural optimisation of a rover wheel-support component using a bio-inspired bone-remodelling algorithm combined with the finite element method (FEM), the radial point interpolation method (RPIM), and the natural neighbour radial point interpolation method (NNRPIM). This study is divided into two stages. First, the influence of the discretisation technique, nodal density and remodelling parameters on the resulting material distributions is examined using a two-dimensional cantilever-beam benchmark. The bone-remodelling algorithm produced admissible load-path configurations for every numerical formulation considered, and the reconstructed benchmark models showed stiffness differences below 1% when cross-analysed with FEM, RPIM and NNRPIM. In the second stage, the algorithm is applied to a two-dimensional design domain representing the component connecting the wheel to the suspension system of the Perseverance rover. Three optimised topologies are independently generated with FEM, RPIM and NNRPIM, reconstructed, and subsequently cross-analysed with the three structural solvers. In two dimensions, the original model presents a mass-normalised stiffness between 205.86 and 210.74 N/mm/kg, whereas the bone-remodelled designs provide values between 351.01 and 446.51 N/mm/kg. For the extruded three-dimensional models, this indicator increases from 208.93–221.53 N/mm/kg to 369.85–476.63 N/mm/kg. The corresponding von Mises stress fields remain well below the aluminium yield strength, and the three numerical formulations provide consistent structural trends. The results show that the adopted bone-remodelling strategy can be transferred from biomechanical analysis to engineering structural optimisation and that RPIM and NNRPIM provide suitable alternatives to FEM for this iterative remodelling framework.