Topological optimization of short fibers reinforced composite structures considering the material anisotropy determined by the calculation of their injection molding process

A methodology is presented for solving the related problem of topological optimization of short-reinforced composites structures, considering the attributes of the material anisotropy by fully solving the injection molding problem. The methodology is considered on the example of optimizing a bracket loaded with a shearing force. The solution is performed in the Ansys Topology Optimization module using the Sequential Convex Programming method. The anisotropic formulation of the problem involves the calculation of the injection molding process in the Autodesk Moldflow system on a mesh reduced by intermediate iterations of topological optimization, and updating the material properties at intermediate steps of the algorithm based on a C program. It is shown that the anisotropy of the material can lead to the displacement of weld lines beyond the main load-bearing structural elements and to increase the stiffness of short-reinforced composite materials structures. The research was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research within the framework of the scientific project No. 18-31-20071 mol_a_ved.