Aplication of the Force Cone Method in topology optimization: a case study on truss design.

Arthur Pandolfo da Veiga¹; Gustavo Marques Hobold¹; Rogério de Castro Lambert¹

¹ Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

doi:10.20906/CPS/COB-2015-0715

Resumo

The present paper discusses the application of the Force Cone Method (Kraftkegelmethode, in German) in the generation of optimized truss conceptual designs. One difficulty of truss design is the initial positioning of nodes and members. Once the conceptual design is generated, optimized layouts can be more readily generated from the initial concept using optimization techniques, and thus better results are obtained. The Force Cone Method (FCM) uses graphic heuristics to rapidly generate simple yet robust initial designs given the load and support positions. A case study, in which the method is applied, was performed, generating satisfactory results with respect to the load index (ratio of maximum load supported and structure mass). The paper concludes that the FCM is an effective tool in generating initial conceptual designs of trusses.

Palavras-chave: Force Cone Method; truss design; Kraftkegelmethode; topology optimization