Viscoelastic material design with negative stiffness components using topology optimization

An application of topology optimization to design viscoelastic composite materials with elastic moduli that soften with frequency is presented. The material is a two-phase composite whose first constituent is isotropic and viscoelastic while the other is an orthotropic material with negative stiffness but stable. A concept for this material based on a lumped parameter model is used. The performance of the topology optimization approach in this context is illustrated using three examples.