Development of a Location Optimization Method for Embedded Components

Embedded components can be found in structures such as multi-material additively manufactured structures and sensors embedded for health monitoring. The embedded components often have different materials from the base structure. Variation of Young's modulus from the base structure to the embedded components can lead to variation in stress values. Variation of material strengths leads to the load bearing capacity of the component being different from the base structure. The location of embedded components has a significant influence on the stress in these components. An appropriate choice of component location could significantly reduce its stress. In this paper, a location optimization method is developed to reduce the stress in components embedded inside the structures. The sensitivity of maximum von Mises stress around the component with respect to its placement is calculated through the adjoint method. A gradient-based solver is applied to solve the optimization problem. A cantilever beam with one component was used to demonstrate the feasibility of the method. The method was applied to two case studies and significant reduction in the maximum von Mises stress of component was achieved.