Topological synthesis of fluidic pressure-actuated robust compliant mechanisms

Kumar, Prabhat and Langelaar, Matthijs (2022) Topological synthesis of fluidic pressure-actuated robust compliant mechanisms. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 174. pp. 1-22. ISSN 0094-114X

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Abstract

This paper presents a robust density-based topology optimization approach for synthesizing pressure-actuated compliant mechanisms. To ensure functionality under manufacturing inaccuracies, the robust or three-field formulation is employed, involving dilated, intermediate and eroded realizations of the design. Darcy's law in conjunction with a conceptualized drainage term is used to model the pressure load as a function of the design vector. The consistent nodal loads are evaluated from the obtained pressure field using the standard finite element method. The objective and load sensitivities are obtained using the adjoint-variable approach. A multi-criteria objective involving both the stiffness and flexibility of the mechanism is employed in the robust formulation, and min-max optimization problems are solved to obtain pressure-actuated inverter, gripper, and contractor compliant mechanisms with different minimum feature sizes. Limitations of the linear elasticity assumptions while designing mechanisms are identified with high pressure loads. Challenges involved in designing finite deformable pressure-actuated compliant mechanisms are presented.

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IITH Creators:

IITH Creators	ORCiD
Kumar, Prabhat	https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6812-9861

Item Type:

Article

Additional Information:

The authors would like to thank Prof. Krister Svanberg for providing MATLAB codes of the MMA optimizer. P. Kumar acknowledges financial support from the Science & Engineering research board, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India under the project file number RJF/2020/000023.

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Pressure-driven compliant mechanismsSoft robotsRobust formulationGeometric nonlinearityFollower forces3D-Printing

Subjects:

Physics > Mechanical and aerospace

Divisions:

Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Depositing User:

. LibTrainee 2021

Date Deposited:

31 Oct 2022 09:50

Last Modified:

31 Oct 2022 09:50