TOPConcrete: Homogenization-based topology optimization of plate-like concrete structures

• Applicant: Dr.-Ing. Felix Clauß
• Subject Area: Structural Engineering, Building Informatics and Construction Operation
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 544936076

Sustainable concrete construction: Material efficiency meets buildability. Concrete has become the most widely used building material due to its free formability, worldwide availability, and low material costs. However, its low cost has led to wasteful use. The focus must shift towards efficient free-form structures to ensure sustainability. Such structures are created by adapting their geometry to the flow of force, using material only where necessary. This makes the components material-efficient, although their production is often associated with complex and therefore cost-intensive formwork and reinforcement work. The objective of the research project is to optimize concrete structures by determining the inner structure while maintaining a simple outer component geometry. In order to achieve this goal, slab-like structures such as floor slabs will be investigated. In building construction, they account for almost half of the total mass of the structure and offer great potential for concrete savings. By utilizing homogenization-based topology optimization, void formers of various shapes and sizes are automatically placed within reinforced concrete slabs based on the acting local loading. The individual local unit cells (concrete body with central void former) are homogenized to ensure stiffness equivalence between mesoscale and macroscale. The placement of the void formers in topology optimization is then based on actual stiffnesses, which inherently accounts for redistribution effects of internal forces. The separation of the stiffness components of shear-deformable plates, namely bending and shear, allows for the targeted manipulation of their respective compliance shares. This enables the material distribution to be specifically directed towards structures prone for bending or shear loads, or a combination of both. The optimization strategy is validated numerically using appropriate slab structures.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: Denmark
• Host: Professor Dr. Ole Sigmund