Structural optimization under overhang constraints imposed by additive manufacturing technologies

Grégoire Allaire (1) , Charles Dapogny (2) , Rafael Estevez (3) , Alexis Faure (3) , Georgios Michailidis (3)

1 CMAP - Centre de Mathématiques Appliquées - Ecole Polytechnique
2 CVGI - Calcul des Variations, Géométrie, Image
3 SIMaP - Science et Ingénierie des Matériaux et Procédés

This article addresses one of the major constraints imposed by additive manufacturing processes on shape optimization problems-that of overhangs, i.e. large regions hanging over void without sufficient support from the lower structure. After revisiting the 'classical' geometric criteria used in the literature, based on the angle between the structural boundary and the build direction, we propose a new mechanical constraint functional, which mimics the layer by layer construction process featured by additive manufacturing technologies, and thereby appeals to the physical origin of the difficulties caused by overhangs. This constraint, as well as some variants, are precisely defined; their shape derivatives are computed in the sense of Hadamard's method and numerical strategies are extensively discussed, in two and three space dimensions, to efficiently deal with the appearance of overhang features in the course of shape optimization processes.

Domaines: Optimisation et contrôle [math.OC]

Grégoire Allaire, Charles Dapogny, Rafael Estevez, Alexis Faure, Georgios Michailidis. Structural optimization under overhang constraints imposed by additive manufacturing technologies. Journal of Computational Physics, 2017, 351, pp.295-328. ⟨10.1016/j.jcp.2017.09.041⟩. ⟨hal-01523009⟩