Topology optimisation of the discrete structures with the minimum growing ground structure method

Abstract

In previous works in the field of topology optimisation of discrete structures, the starting point of the algorithm in the most cases is a structure that consists of all members (ground structure). In this case, too much computing is needed to obtain optimum topology of the structure. In order to overcome this disadvantage of the structural topology optimisation, the minimum growing ground structure method (MGGSM) was proposed. The method consists of three phases. In the first phase, the minimum stable structure is constructed. In the second phase, this structure, by applying the growth idea becomes a feasible and acceptable structure, and in the third phase, a meta-heuristic optimisation method is used to obtain the optimal topology of the structure. The comparison between the results obtained by the MGGSM and other methods for standard examples shows the efficiency of the MGGSM algorithm to obtain the optimum state.