Fluid topology optimization and additive manufacturing of a liquid atomizer using an extensive number of grid points

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) can fabricate complicated shapes and is useful when manufacturing topology optimized shapes. Fluid parts often consists of three dimensional curves that are suitable for AM fabrication. However, the application of fluid topology optimization and AM has not been investigated yet. However, modeling and solving an optimization problem have not been investigated for a real industrial fluid topology optimization problem of AM parts with tiny channels, i.e., a liquid atomizer which is equipped with an aero-engine fuel injector. In order to reduce computation time, which is an important issue in real industrial problem, the instantaneous sensitivity approximation method is used as a topology optimization method. The optimized part exhibited a reduction in pressure loss compared to that of a conventional part.