Enhancing structural topology optimization

The goal pf structural optimization is to find the best possible configurat ion that minimizes the objective function and satisfies a set of constraint s. Here we present a method based on the evolutionary structural optimizati on method, where the quality of the solution is improved by avoiding the ch ain-like sets of elements which are source of potential kinematic instabili ties, and by including local error estimators. Both of these enhancements a re employed to activate refining the mesh so as to obtain accurate and stab le solutions as the volume removal proceeds. Several related contributions of Professor E. Hinton are cited.