An evolutionary topology optimization method for design of compliant mechanisms with two-dimensional loading

This study aims to develop a general topology optimization method to synthesize compliant mechanisms with any combination of two-dimensional loading based on the concept of bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO). The objective function in this study is to maximize the output displacement. The optimal design of a compliant force-displacement inverter mechanism under both one-dimensional and two-dimensional loading conditions (including symmetric and non-symmetric loading cases) are discussed as the illustrative examples. The dynamic model solved by explicit dynamic finite element analysis (FEA) is used to analyze the dynamic performance of the inverter mechanism. The results show the geometric advantage of the optimal design ranges from 2.3 to 3.2 for compression mode, and 1.3 to 2.6 for extension mode in the given displacement-input ranges.