Abstract
This paper proposes a level-set based structural optimization method considering the minimum length constraint. The minimum length constraint should be considered in an engineering view point, because extreme thin parts are not preferable when processing structures. In the proposed level-set based method, the minimum length of the target structure can be easily computed by utilizing the characteristic of the signed distance function, although it is difficult in standard topology optimization methods. Furthermore, the modification method for the violation of the minimum length constraint can be easily implemented by the characteristic the signed distance function. Among many application fields for the proposed method, we now focus on a complaint mechanism design problem. Since thin hinge parts are appeared in normal compliant mechanisms, it is expected that unique designs for compliant mechanisms are obtained by constraining the minimum length. For this purpose, we develop a new level-set based structural optimization method for the compliant mechanism design problem where the minimum length is constrained. The usefulness of the proposed method is demonstrated by some numerical examples.
