A subdomain-based parallel strategy for structural topology optimization

Structural topology optimization has undergone tremendous developments in the past three decades. Making the most of high-performance computing resources contributes to broadening the application of topology optimization in large-scale design problems. In this paper, a subdomain-based parallel strategy is proposed for general three-dimensional topology optimization. The optimization process is significantly accelerated through subdomain division, matrix calculation, and hard-kill algorithm. This strategy is integrated into an efficient and compact Python code, which is valid for design space with an arbitrary shape. The complete code, given in Appendix 1, can be easily extended to tackle different kinds of optimization problems. Four compliance minimization problems are taken as examples to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed strategy. This work has potential applications in areas such as mechanical engineering, advanced manufacturing, and architectural design. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].