Topology optimization of truss structure considering nodal stability and local buckling stability

In order to obtain stable and realistic truss structures in practical applications, it is essential to include nodal and local buckling stability in truss topology optimization. There have been several approaches to address the challenges including nodal stability or local buckling stability. However, these approaches often lead to ill conditioned optimization problems, such as convergence problems due to the concavity of the problem or high computational costs. In this study, two novel but conceptually simple methodologies, the nominal perturbing force (NPF) approach, and the allowable stress iteration (ASI) approach, are proposed to address nodal instability and local buckling instability problems in truss topology optimization, respectively. Initially, in the NPF approach, an infinite number of disturbing forces that a node may suffer are incorporated into the truss topology optimization problem in the form of nominal perturbing force conditions, whose magnitude and direction are discussed to capture the worst case. In the ASI approach, the allowable stress for each compressive bar is redefined in each iteration to ensure that the Euler critical buckling constraint is active. In this way, the concave local buckling instability problem is linearized in each iteration and can be solved efficiently by a linear programming solver. Finally, based on the finite element limit analysis (FELA) method, a truss topology optimization formulation incorporating the NPF and ASI approaches is proposed to solve the nodal stability and local buckling stability problems simultaneously. The proposed formulation is demonstrated through several numerical examples showing significant effects of including nodal stability and local buckling stability in the optimized designs, while at the same time demonstrating the validity and potential of the proposed approaches.