Investigation of Topology Optimization for 3D Magnetic Shielding Problems

Abstract

In recent years, the application of optimization methods coupled with magnetic field analysis is receiving ever increasing attention, and a large number and variety of methods have been proposed. For instance, the optimization of shield placement and its geometric boundaries has been of great interest in the area of rapid transit system, medical service adopting superconducting magnets, etc. The optimal design is categorized into sizing optimization, shape optimization, and topology optimization. Generally the topology optimization is effective for lightening the investigated model. However, there are few papers conceming with the topology optimization in which it is difficult to define design variables.
In this paper we propose the novel approaches to the 3D optimal design of magnetic shields, in which both the shape and topology optimization are implemented. We try to lighten the magnetic shield maintaining its shielding ability by using the hybrid finite element and boundary element method combined with the genetic algorithm. Finally some numerical results which demonstrate the validity of the proposed approaches are presented.