Sviluppo di tecniche innovative di ottimizzazione strutturale e tecnologie di produzione per componenti meccanici avanzati

The need to be more and more competitive is pushing the complexity of mechanical design at very high levels. Topology optimization is quite new in this field and it is considered as one of the most challenging and promising strategy in structural optimization, leading to a remarkable economic gain. It can be a very effective enabler to individuate new paths and strategies, and to go beyond techniques already consolidated in structural design, such as parametric and shape optimizations. Topology optimization methods improve material distribution within a given design space, for a given set of boundary conditions and loads, to allow the resulting layout to meet a prescribed set of performance targets. This approach enables the creation of free-form continuous structures, which are usually difficult or impossible to be produced using traditional manufacturing processes. However, thanks to innovative technologies, as new additive manufacturing techniques, it is now possible to effectively exploit topology optimization to develop innovative components characterized by complex three-dimensional geometries. Through this new optimization technique, a new concept design for all the examined components has been developed and the optimized geometry has been compared to the original one to highlight the improvements in terms of mass reduction and, at the same time, improved mechanical behaviour.