Topology optimisation for natural convection problems

Natural Algorithms for Optimisation Problems

Many computational techniques borrow ideas from nature in one way or another. Neural networks imitate the structure of our human brain, genetic algorithms simulate evolution and swarms of insects inspired algorithms for stochastic combinatorial optimisation. These techniques are characterised by inherent parallelism, adaptivity, positive feedback and some element of randomness. This report deta...

Large scale three-dimensional topology optimisation of heat sinks cooled by natural convection

This work presents the application of density-based topology optimisation to the design of three-dimensional heat sinks cooled by natural convection. The governing equations are the steady-state incompressible Navier-Stokes equations coupled to the thermal convection-diffusion equation through the Bousinessq approximation. The fully coupled non-linear multiphysics system is solved using stabili...

On adaptive anisotropic mesh optimisation for convection-diffusion problems

Numerical solution of convection-dominated problems requires the use of layer-adapted anisotropic meshes. Since a priori construction of such meshes is difficult for complex problems, it is proposed to generate them in an adaptive way by moving the node positions in the mesh such that an a posteriori error estimator of the overall error of the approximate solution is reduced. This approach is f...

A PLAtform for Topology Optimisation incorporating Novel, Large-Scale, Free-Material Optimisation and Mixed Integer Programming Methods Lower bounding problems for stress constrained discrete structural topology optimization problems

The multiple load structural topology design problem is modeled as a minimization of the weight of the structure subject to equilibrium constraints and restrictions on the local stresses and nodal displacements. The problem involves a large number of discrete design variables and is modeled as a non-convex mixed 0–1 program. For this problem, several convex and mildly non-convex continuous rela...

Parallel Adaptive Finite Element Methods for Problems in Natural Convection