Optimum design of shear panel damper under cyclic load

Abstract

In this paper, a density-based topology optimization of a shear panel damper made of low yield steel has been carried out to improve the deformation ability. A minimization problem of maximum cumulative equivalent plastic strain (CEPSmax), which is an index of the deformation ability of the shear panel damper, is formulated subject to a constraint of volume. The optimization process consists of the following steps. Firstly, the finite element analysis with isotropic/kinematic hardening model is adopted to simulate the cyclic elasto-plastic behavior instead of experimental approach, and the numerical solutions are evaluated by comparing with previous experimental results. After that a density-based topology optimization is applied to obtain the optimal material layout, and investigate the relationship between the maximum CEPS and the total absorbing energy during the optimization process. With the topology optimization method, the objective function can be substantially decreased to improve the deformation capacity of the shear panel damper. The optimization results for each volume constraint value are also compared. Finally, based on the results of the topology optimization, a detailed shape is obtained by using the response surface methodology combined with the design of experiment technique.