Microvascular composites show a substantial potential to offer a wide range of multi-functionality to fiber-reinforced polymer composites by enabling internal fluid/mass transport. Indeed, based on the choice of fluid flowing through the microchannels, microvascular material is capable of providing multifunctional applications such as thermal management, modifying the electromagnetic signature, self-healing, and tuning the electrical properties. In this study, we concentrate on the thermal management feature of the microvascular materials that has a wide range of applications in batteries, hypersonic vehicles, and electronic devices.

This study presents an efficient framework for hybrid topology/shape (HyTopS) optimization of microvascular materials over a fixed mesh using the Interface-enriched Generalized Finite Element Method (IGFEM). The emphasis of this study is placed on the novel scheme which can perform the topological change during the shape optimization process of microvascular composites. We previously developed a fully analytical sensitivity analysis of the shape optimization of microvascular materials in the IGFEM framework over a fixed mesh. In this study, we introduce two features to the previously developed shape optimization approach: first, the optimizer can appear/disappear the microchannels and change the topology of the network during the shape optimization process; second, by considering the possible microchannel blockage scenarios in each iteration, it can design a blockage-tolerant cooling network. The first feature is added by defining a new set of design parameters that act analogous to the penalization factor of Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization (SIMP) method. This set of design parameters is responsible for appearing/disappearing the microchannels based on the prescribed objective function and imposed constraints. The second feature enables the optimizer to alleviate the destructive effects of microchannel blockage by designing the microchannel network for that situation. 

By using IGFEM and simplified thermal and hydraulic models, the computational cost is significantly reduced. Furthermore, the produced network configurations are suitable for large-scale manufacturing without the essence of post-processing because the microchannel boundaries are precisely represented in the proposed model.

The method has been verified by FLUENT. We have also previously validated our model with the experiment. An acceptable agreement has been seen between our solver, FLUENT, and experimental results. To show the abilities of the suggested HyTopS optimization scheme, several application problems have been solved. The first example is designed to demonstrate the benefits of using the HyTopS optimization method rather than only the shape optimization approach. We have shown that in contrast to the shape optimization scheme the design space in the HyTopS optimization method is not locked down to the topology of the initial design. The second problem represents the ability of the HyTopS optimization method to provide network redundancy and design a blockage-tolerant cooling network.


Network Redundancy: A Key Design Factor for Cooling Networks

Division / Sponsors: 
Design Engineering Division and Computers & Information In Engineering Division


Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IDETC-CIE/IDETC-CIE2020/volume/83907

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