Lattice Structure Optimization for Metallic and Composite Additive-Manufactured Missile Components

With the advent of additive manufacturing (AM), lattice structures are being deployed today in a variety of engineering applications where light-weight, large surface area, energy absorption, etc., are critical. However, the design and fabrication of such lattice structures poses several challenges. From a design perspective, current methods are computationally prohibitive, or require artificial constraints that significantly reduce the design space. Furthermore, it has been observed that the resulting lattice structures are sub-optimal when compared to non-lattice-structure designs obtained through classic macro-scale optimization. From a manufacturing perspective, incorporating process constraints and accounting for lower-than-nominal structural performances into the design process has also been elusive.TDA’s proposed work addresses the SBIR topic objectives of developing an intelligent framework to design and analyze scalable lattice architectures for missile applications. Based on our team’s expertise in topology optimization, modeling for AM process and nondestructive testing, our approach consists of: (1) extend in-house conforming lattice structure optimization to include stress constraints under static and dynamic loading, (2) address process-related challenges of manufacturing, (3) use predictive modeling of lattice structure behavior under all loading to determine a statistical basis of failure propagation and risk-based decision and (4) perform experimental testing and validation using Digital Image Correlation.