International Journal of Engineering and Technology

Structural optimization approaches may be categorized into three major types. One type of approach is topological optimization, which involves many sensitivity analysis variables. This type of approach sometimes results in odd shapes, such as checkerboard patterns. The other types are shape optimization and parametric optimization, which involve certain difficulties in dealing with the selection of proper parameters and require repeated meshing for the purpose of finite element analysis. We propose an efficient method for grouping finite elements to reduce the number of degrees of freedom of the system considerably and to perform the optimization of several groups of elements. If we reject elements using a cutoff criterion based on the specific strain energy for several steps, we may obtain a topologically optimized result for the discrete configuration, without any irregularity. This optimization may have a higher-speed process based on the grouping method. The grouping method divides the elements into three groups on the basis of strain energy—a high-energy group, a low-energy group, and a mid-energy group. By moving the high-energy group to a high-priority group and eliminating the lowenergy group, a 1/3rd rule can be used to obtain an optimized design. The 1/3rd rule is fast and effective and provides a way to obtain a realistic result. Several examples were considered to test the optimization efficacy of the grouping technique.