Moving morphable curved components framework of topology optimization based on the concept of time series

Topology optimization provides a powerful approach to structural design with its capability to find the optimal topology automatically. However, the optimal topologies achieved by the traditional density-based method are difficult to be manufactured. Recently, some explicit descriptions, like the Moving Morphable Components (MMC) approach, have been introduced to narrow the gap between design and manufacture. However, since only components with simple geometry are considered, it is still unsatisfactory regarding geometric arbitrariness in those studies. Here we demonstrate a new topology optimization approach originating from the MMC framework by replacing the straight components with the curved ones so as to enhance the geometric arbitrariness. The skeleton of the modified component is described by the non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS) curve. The concept of time series is then proposed to directly generate the curved component from the 1D skeleton curve. It is shown that it's much easier to achieve the variation of width by the new strategy when compared with other curve descriptions. Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach based on the moving morphable curved components.