Topology optimization of turbine disk considering maximum stress prediction and constraints

For the stress-constrained topology optimization of a turbine disk under centrifugal loads, the jagged boundaries of the mesh and the gray densities on the solid/void interfaces could make the calculated stress field inconsistent with the actual value. It may result in overestimating the maximum stress and thus affect the effectiveness of stress constraints. This paper proposes a new method for predicting the maximum stress to overcome the difficulty. In the process, a predicted density is newly defined to obtain stable boundaries with thin layers of gray elements, a transition factor is innovatively proposed to evaluate the effects of intermediate-density elements, two different stiffness penalty schemes are flexibly used to calculate the elastic modulus of elements, and a linear stress penalty is further adopted to relax the stress field of the structure. The proposed approach for predicting the maximum stress value is verified by the analysis of a structure with smooth boundaries and the topology optimization of a turbine disk. An updating scheme of the stress constraint in the topology optimization is also developed using the predicted maximum stress. Some key ingredients affecting the optimization results are discussed in detail. The results prove the effectiveness and efficacy of the proposed maximum stress prediction and developed stress constraint methods.