A numerical scheme for filter boundary conditions in topology optimization on regular and irregular meshes

Abstract: In density-based topology optimization, design variables associated to the boundaries of the design domain require unique treatment to negate boundary effects arising from the filtering technique. An effective approach to deal with filtering boundary conditions is to extend the design domain beyond the borders using void densities. Although the approach is easy to implement, it introduces extra computational cost required to store the additional Finite Elements (FEs). This work proposes a numerical technique for the density filter that emulates an extension of the design domain, thus, it avoids boundary effects without demanding additional computational cost, besides it is very simple to implement on both regular and irregular meshes. The numerical scheme is demonstrated using the compliance minimization problem on two-dimensional design domains. In addition, this article presents a discussion regarding the use of a real extension of the design domain, where the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and volume restriction are influenced. Through a quantitative study, it is shown that affecting FEA or volume restriction with an extension of the FE mesh promotes the disconnection of material from the boundaries of the design domain, which is interpreted as a numerical instability promoting convergence towards local optimums.