LATTICE STRUCTURE DESIGN OPTIMISATION FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING USING FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Abstract

Additive manufacturing enables the manufacturing of complex forms such as lattice structures. Lattice structures are lightweight and have high-strength mechanical properties, which are suitable for requirements in the aerospace and automotive industries. The aim of this research is to propose an optimised lightweight lattice structure design method. The methodology used in this research consists of conducting finite element analysis on solid CAD models to observe the stress and strain distribution. From the results, an optimised lattice structure design method was proposed consisting of a guideline to choose the optimised lattice structure densities. The proposed design method optimises lattice structure designs by enabling the choice of different relative densities in certain areas of the lattice structure and further reduces its mass. In conclusion, current lattice structure designs for additive manufacturing can be further optimised and reduced in mass by defining optimised densities based on the stress and strain distribution. This outcome contributes to the design of lightweight high-strength parts in the aerospace and automotive industry to reduce fuel consumption and increase performances.