A discrete variable based methodology for topology optimization considering spatially uneven manufacturing errors

Manufacturing errors (MEs) are unavoidable in product fabrication. The omnipresence of manufacturing errors (MEs) in product engineering necessitates the development of robust optimization methodologies. In this research, a novel approach based on the morphological operations and interval field (MOIF) theory is proposed to address MEs in the discrete-variable-based topology optimization procedures. On the basis of a methodology for deterministic topology optimization (TO) based on the Min-Cut, MOIF introduces morphological operations to generate geometrical variations, while the dimension of the structuring element is dynamically set by the interval field function’s output. The effectiveness of the proposed approach as a powerful tool for accounting for spatially uneven ME in the TOs has been demonstrated.