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Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering

January 2021

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  • Picture of the Month
The image shows bionic optimization of pressure vessel support structures. © AD​/​BCI

January 2021 – Bionic optimization of pressure Vessel Support Structures

The use of lightweight structures with bionic designs have made their way into the fields of architecture and aeronautics. An example for bionic optimization methods is the topology optimization, which is inspired by the growth behavior of bones. In this optimization the SIMP (solid isotropic material with penalization) method is used. In a oversized design space material is removed and distributed according to the loads of a reference model. The comparison of FEM simulation results of design approaches developed by topology optimization with standard designs by guidelines (e.g. DIN, AD2000, ASME) show lower masses and higher stiffness of topology optimized support structures. Especially in the region of linear-elastic material behavior bionic support structures have superior characteristics in the form of stresses and masses.