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arXiv · 1702.07525

A convex analysis approach to multi-material topology optimization

Christian Clason·Karl Kunisch
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Abstract

This work is concerned with optimal control of partial differential equations where the control enters the state equation as a coefficient and should take on values only from a given discrete set of values corresponding to available materials. A "multi-bang" framework based on convex analysis is proposed where the desired piecewise constant structure is incorporated using a convex penalty term. Together with a suitable tracking term, this allows formulating the problem of optimizing the topology of the distribution of material parameters as minimizing a convex functional subject to a (nonlinear) equality constraint. The applicability of this approach is validated for two model problems where the control enters as a potential and a diffusion coefficient, respectively. This is illustrated in both cases by numerical results based on a semi-smooth Newton method.

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Christian Clason, Karl Kunisch. 2017-02-24. A convex analysis approach to multi-material topology optimization. https://doi.org/10.1051/m2an/2016012

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