Multimaterial topology optimization for finite strain elastoplasticity: Theory, methods, and applications

Plasticity is inherent to many engineering materials such as metals. While it can degrade the load-carrying capacity of structures via material yielding, it can also protect structures through plastic energy dissipation. To fully harness plasticity, here we present the theory, methods, and applications of a topology optimization framework that simultaneously optimizes structural geometries and material phases to customize the stiffness, strength, and structural toughness of designs experiencing finite strain elastoplasticity. The optimization formulation includes various objective functions and functional constraints. The framework accurately predicts structural responses by employing a rigorous, mechanics-based elastoplasticity theory that ensures isochoric plastic flow. It also effectively identifies optimal material distributions using a gradient-based optimizer, where gradient information is obtained via a reversed adjoint method to address history dependence, along with automatic differentiation to compute the complex partial derivatives. We demonstrate the framework’s capabilities by optimizing a range of 2D and 3D multimaterial elastoplastic structures under large deformations with diverse real-world applications, including energy-dissipating dampers, load-carrying beams, impact-resisting bumpers, and cold working profiled sheets. These optimized multimaterial structures reveal important mechanisms for improving design performance under large deformations, such as the transition from kinematic to isotropic hardening with increasing displacement amplitudes and the formation of twisted regions that concentrate stress, enhancing plastic energy dissipation. Through the superior performance of these optimized designs, we demonstrate the framework’s effectiveness in tailoring elastoplastic responses across various material types, hardening behaviors, and numbers of candidate materials as well as handling various design objectives and constraints. This work offers a systematic approach for optimizing next-generation multimaterial structures with elastoplastic behaviors under large deformations.

Citation: Yingqi Jia and Xiaojia Shelly Zhang (2026). "Multimaterial topology optimization for finite strain elastoplasticity: Theory, methods, and applications." Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering. 449, 118445.
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