Study of the design of a bycicle frame by comparing different topology optimization software

Abstract

Topology optimization is one of the most efficient numerical approaches to obtain new lightweight structures, aiming to generate unintuitive holes in the less stressed areas. Besides, such complex geometries can nowadays be obtained in reality with the constant improvement of additive manufacturing. However, the capacity to obtain a very competitive design, balanced with a relative short computational time, is an important challenge. Therefore, the aim of this work is to test different topology optimization software and compare their performance, along with the Swan open-source GitHub repository. Different benchmark problems are analyzed, as well as a final example consisting of the design of a bicycle frame. In general, the results have shown that topology optimization commercial software are a useful and functional technology. Nevertheless, it still has a lot of room for improvement, given that certain geometries and restrictions can cause problems that directly affect the integrity of the part. Regarding the Swan case,it has also a great room for improvement in some aspects, such as the time, but, despite of using a significant amount of time for their simulations, it was proved that is a very robust software.