What Lies Beneath the Surface: Topological-Shape Optimization With the Kernel-Independent Fast Multipole Method

TL;DR

This paper introduces a scalable, efficient boundary integral method for topology optimization in elasticity, leveraging the kernel-independent fast multipole method for high performance and applicability to complex engineering problems.

Contribution

It develops a novel boundary element approach combined with the fast multipole method for scalable topology optimization in elasticity, improving speed and efficiency.

Findings

Achieves excellent single node performance and scalable parallelization.

Demonstrates effectiveness on engineering and metamaterial microstructure optimization.

Provides the fastest available topology optimization tool with boundary integral formulation.

Abstract

The paper presents a new method for shape and topology optimization based on an efficient and scalable boundary integral formulation for elasticity. To optimize topology, our approach uses iterative extraction of isosurfaces of a topological derivative. The numerical solution of the elasticity boundary value problem at every iteration is performed with the boundary element formulation and the kernel-independent fast multipole method. Providing excellent single node performance, scalable parallelization and the best available asymptotic complexity, our method is among the fastest optimization tools available today. The performance of our approach is studied on few illustrative examples, including the optimization of engineered constructions for the minimum compliance and the optimization of the microstructure of a metamaterial for the desired macroscopic tensor of elasticity.