| Abstract: | Elastic structures that exist in a thermal environment usually experience complex steady-state or transient heat conduction, whereby operational temperatures and stresses may change with time, heat sources, and thermal or kinematic boundary conditions. This article proposes an evolutionary optimization procedure for topology design involving thermoelasticity in which finite element heat analysis, finite element thermoelastic analysis, and subsequently design modification are iteratively carried out. To achieve as efficacious a material usage as possible, the relative efficiency of an element is defined in terms of its thermal stress level. In this article, design cases with uniform temperature fields, nonuniform temperature fields subjected to single or multiple heat load cases, and transient temperature fields are studied. The examples presented show the capabilities of the proposed procedure to solve various thermoelastic problems under varying temperature fields. |
