Presented at the COMSOL Conference 2009 Boston

Multiphysics Topology Optimization of

Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Systems

Ercan (Eric) Dede, Ph.D.

Technical Research Department
Toyota Research Institute of North America

COMSOL Users Conference

Session: Optimization and Inverse Methods
October 8, 2009
Boston, MA
 Overview

{ Motivation
{ Technical Approach
{ Single Physics Example
{ Multiphysics Example
{ Conclusions

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 Motivation
{ Advanced electrical machine design
requires efficient thermal / fluid systems

= Thermal management location

Toyota PRIUS Toyota Hybrid System (THS) II

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 Technical Approach
{ Topology optimization
z Local control of density → 0 (void) and 1 (solid)

Design Domain + Loads Discretized Design Example Optimized

& Boundary Conditions Domain Design Domain

Minimize F (ρ )
Subject to R (ρ ) = 0 Allow density design variables to vary continuously
for gradient-based optimization
ρ min < ρ < 1

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 Technical Approach
{ Topology optimization
z COMSOL + MMA in MATLAB environment
Initial homogeneous distribution of
material

Finite Element Analysis COMSOL Multiphysics

Evaluate Objective & Constraints F (ρ )

COMSOL Multiphysics
plus Sensitivity Analysis dF (ρ ) / dρ

Optimization Algorithm to Update Method of Moving Asymptotes

Design Variables (MMA) MATLAB Optimizer

No
Converged?

Yes

Final Solution + Post-Processing COMSOL Multiphysics + MATLAB

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 Technical Approach

{ Governing equations
z Heat transfer
Eq. 1 − ∇ ⋅ (k (ρ )∇T ) = Q => Pure Heat Conduction

Eq. 2 ρC (u ⋅ ∇T ) = ∇ ⋅ (k (ρ )∇T ) + Q => Convection - Diffusion

z Fluid mechanics
Eq. 3 ∇⋅u = 0 => Fluid Incompressibility

Eq. 4 ρ (u ⋅ ∇u ) = −∇P + η∇ 2u − α (ρ )u => Brinkman - type Equation

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 Technical Approach

{ Design variable interpolation 1

Thermal Conductivity

Thermal conductivity
Solid
Inverse Permeability

z
0.9

0.8

Eq. 5 ( )
k (ρ ) = 0.001 + 0.999 ∗ ρ p ∗ kmax 0.7

=> SIMP (ref. Bendsoe and Sigmund, 2004)

0.6

0.5

z Inverse permeability 0.4

0.3
q=0.2
q=0.3

⎛ q ∗ (1 − ρ ) ⎞
α (ρ ) = α min + (α max − α min ) ∗ ⎜⎜
q=0.1

Eq. 6 ⎟⎟ 0.2

⎝ (q + ρ ) ⎠ 0.1
Fluid
=> RAMP (ref. Olesen et al., 2006) 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Rho

{ Thermal / fluid objective function

Eq. 7 F (ρ ) = w1B (ρ ) + w2C (ρ )

Related to total fluid power dissipated in porous medium

Related to mean temperature of domain
Weighting values (2X)

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 Single Physics Example
{ Optimization for pure heat conduction
z Model descriptions

Adiabatic BC
Uniform
Adiabatic heat
boundary generation
condition on within
Uniform Heat Adiabatic remaining
T=0 design
Generation, Q BC external domain
surfaces

Adiabatic BC T=0

2-D Domain 3-D Domain

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 Single Physics Example
{ Optimization for pure heat conduction
z Results

Optimal Temperature Optimal Temperature

Topology Distribution Topology Distribution

2-D Domain 3-D Domain

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 Multiphysics Example
{ Optimization for heat transfer & fluid flow
z Model description – three terminal device
Adiabatic, Zero Pressure,
No-Slip Walls Convective
Fixed Flux, Fluid
Temperature, Outlet
Parabolic
Flow,
Fluid Inlet Uniform Heat
Generation, Q

Zero Pressure,
Primary Adiabatic, Convective
Design Domain Flux, Fluid
No-Slip Walls
Outlet

2-D Domain

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 Multiphysics Example
{ Optimization for heat transfer & fluid flow
z Results for w1 >> w2 in objective function

Optimal Topology, fluid velocity Fluid velocity contours Fluid pressure contours
arrows, and temperature contours

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 Multiphysics Example
{ Optimization for heat transfer & fluid flow
z Results for w2 >> w1 in objective function

Optimal Topology, fluid velocity Fluid velocity contours Fluid pressure contours
arrows, and temperature contours

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 Conclusions
{ Multiphysics topology optimization
demonstrated
z COMSOL + MMA in MATLAB environment
z Heat transfer and fluid flow objectives

{ Ongoing work
z Evaluation of interpolation schemes for
oscillation suppression during solution
z Efficient methods for determining weighting
values
z Novel applications to 3-D thermal / fluid heat
transfer systems

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 Questions?

Thank you!

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