Projects
Improved Models for Thermal Fluid Topology Optimization KU Leuven
Thermal-fluid cooling systems are commonly used in many industrial applications due to their capability to handle high heat loads. An example is the cooling of electronic devices. For the new generations of processors, the continuously increasing power density is a bottleneck in guaranteeing their functional performance. This poses serious challenges to the cooling system design. To optimize the performance of these liquid-cooled heat sinks ...
Density-based Topology Optimization for District Heating Networks KU Leuven
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, limiting global warming will require significant changes in the energy system over the next 30 years (IPCC report 2022). While the role of efficient and low-carbon heating technologies continues to grow, fossil fuels still meet over 60% of heating energy demand (IEA Heating 2022). This dependence on fossil fuels in the heating sector requires new perspectives in the planning and ...
Efficient Design Methodologies for Topology and Shape Optimization of 3-D Cooling Devices KU Leuven
Thermal management of electronic devices concerns the removal of heat from components to prevent premature failure and improve reliability. Current cooling strategies are under continuous pressure to deliver adequate performance, and ongoing component miniaturization and compact packaging techniques have driven the need for further innovation in the field of thermal management. To this end, topology optimization has increasingly been applied ...
Topology Optimization for Additive Manufacturing in Structural Engineering KU Leuven
Additive manufacturing encompasses all technologies that produce three-dimensional objects, usually by adding one layer of material at the time. Technologies have been developed for a wide range of materials, including metal, thermoplastics, ceramics, composites and glass. While additive manufacturing has the potential to produce very complex geometries, it is still characterized by certain technological constraints. One of these constraints ...
Topology Optimization of large-scale systems with many local constraints KU Leuven
Topology Optimization (TO) is a powerful technology which allows to compute optimized designs of physical systems in a fully automated manner, without any assumed parameterization of the geometry. From the mathematical standpoint, it consists of solving nonlinear optimization problems constrained by partial differential equations. This technology allows to improve the performance in various physical settings such as structural design, heat ...
LoCUTO: Locally Constrained and Uncertain Topology Optimization of large-scale systems KU Leuven
Optimization problems appear in numerous applications: parametric and nonparametric industrial design, statistical and deep learning and data assimilation to name a few. We are interested in this project on developing systematic and robust methodologies to address two current challenges in topology optimization of physical systems modelled by partial differential equations: - the treatment of local point-wise constraints in the context of ...
Topology optimization of large-scale systems subject to uncertainty KU Leuven
Topology Optimization (TO) is a powerful method for optimizing the design of industrial systems. Incorporating uncertainty analysis into the design process is essential for devising more robust and reliable systems that are better suited to real-world conditions. Unfortunately, current TO methods have limitations when it comes to dealing with uncertainty in three-dimensional real-world large-scale situations featuring multiple physics, ...
Topology Optimization of 3D Printed Lattice Structures for Structural Applications KU Leuven
The rising capability of additive manufacturing technologies to produce metal lattice structures provides an attractive target for mechanical design due to their lightweight, anisotropic and inherently manufacturable properties. As part of a drive towards optimized, lattice-embedded structures, this thesis presents a way to simulate mechanical lattice behaviour through a combination of classical beam elements and a joint element produced by a ...
Topology optimization of heat exchanger manifolds for heat pumps KU Leuven
The objective of this PhD research is to drastically reduce the refrigerant charge in heat pumps. This reduction is crucial in the transition to refrigerants with a lower global warming potential, since the introduction of several candidate refrigerants is hampered by their flammability, which imposes a maximum refrigerant charge on the heat pump. To this end, the PhD student will develop 3D topology optimization techniques to minimize the ...