Minimum length scale in topology optimization by geometric constraints

A density-based topology optimization approach is proposed to design structures with strict minimum length scale. The idea is based on using a filtering-threshold topology optimization scheme and computationally cheap geometric constraints. The constraints are defined over the underlying structural geometry represented by the filtered and physical fields. Satisfying the constraints leads to a design that possesses user-specified minimum length scale. Conventional topology optimization problems can be augmented with the proposed constraints to achieve minimum length scale on the final design. No additional finite element analysis is required for the constrained optimization. Several benchmark examples are presented to show the effectiveness of this approach.