Multi-material Topology Optimization in LS-TaSC - Ordered SIMP Interpolation - Conference Preprint

Sep 14, 2026

Topology optimization enables optimal material layouts under multiple load cases, but common single-material methods limit designs for modern structures that combine different materials for better performance. This paper presents an approach to integrate ordered SIMP interpolation into LS-TaSC to perform multi-material topology optimization within one design domain. The method assigns material and density values to elements and evaluates solutions using static and crash load cases, comparing results to single-material baselines and gradient-based ordered-SIMP methods. Low computational costs support large-scale industrial applications.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

1. Introduction

1.1 Background and motivation

2. Topology

Multi-material topology optimization in LS-TaSC using ordered SIMP interpolation Satchit Ramnath, Mariusz Bujny, Nate Zurbrugg, Stefan Menzel, Duane Detwiler 2020 Preprint: This is an accepted article published in 16th International LS-DYNA Conference 2020. The final authenticated version is available online at: [https://doi.org/](https://doi.org/) [DOI not available] Multi-material Topology Optimization in LS-TaSC using Ordered SIMP Interpolation Satchit Ramnath 1 , Mariusz Bujny2 , Nathan Zurbrugg3 , Stefan Menzel2 , Duane Detwiler3 1SIMCenter, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA 2Honda Research Institute Europe GmbH, Offenbach/Main, Germany 3Honda Research & Development Americas, Raymond, Ohio, USA Abstract Topology optimization allows for the design of structures with an optimum distribution of material for a given set of load cases that may have conflicting requirements. Though the methods used in topology optimization help to generate better and novel designs, they are generally limited to a single material only. In contrast, modern vehicle structures are composed of parts made of multiple materials, exhibiting usually superior performance compared to single-material designs. In order to support the design process of such structures, this problem requires the ability to use multi-material optimization methods within commercially available software like LS-TaSC®, to optimally distribute multiple materials within a single design domain. In this paper, a method for integration of the ordered SIMP in LS-TaSC® to realize multi-material TO is proposed and evaluated using a solid beam that is subject to static and crash load cases. The optimization uses the updated material distribution, based on ordered SIMP, to assign material/density values to elements in the design domain. To demonstrate the potential of the multi-material TO and validate the results, the obtained topologies are compared to single material designs as well as to the structures optimized using the state-of-the-art gradient-based approach based on ordered SIMP. The results show that LS-TaSC® can be successfully used for deriving multi-material structures superior to the single-material designs. Finally, due to the low computational costs, the method seems to be suitable for the optimization of large-scale industrial models. 1. Introduction The use of Topology Optimization (TO) in the automotive industry has proven to be an effective tool for developing conceptual designs capable of meeting conflicting requirements like stiffness, safety, and lightweighting. During the last years, the design process in the automotive industry has been changing very dynamically thanks to the utilization of TO [1][2][3][4] and related post-processing techniques [5] . TO is a mathematical method used to optimize the material layout within a defined design space, for a given set of boundary conditions like loads or supports. The complexity of the automotive structures is increasing with every generation update. Thus, the updated designs are required to satisfy quickly changing, and sometimes conflicting, requirements from various disciplines in the development cycle. To meet challenging requirements like weight and cost for modern vehicles, structures composed of parts made of different materials became a standard in the automotive industry. As a consequence, multi-material TO approaches which are able to determine not only the distribution of material within the design space, but also the splitting into different material types, are gaining more and more attention recently. In particular, density-based multi-material TO methods, which are interesting from the perspective of this work, can be divided into the following four groups: SIMP-based methods using multiple variables for encoding each material type [6], phasefield methods [7], alternating active phase approaches [8], and ordered-SIMP-based methods [9][10] . The main disadvantage of the

FAQs

What problem does the paper address in topology optimization?

The paper addresses the limitation of conventional topology optimization methods that typically handle only a single material, while real vehicle structures often use multiple materials.

How does the proposed method enable multi-material optimization in LS-TaSC?

It integrates ordered SIMP interpolation into LS-TaSC, using updated material distributions to assign material and density values to elements in the design domain.

How are the optimized designs evaluated?

Results are evaluated using static and crash load cases and are compared against single-material designs and against gradient-based approaches using ordered SIMP.

Sep 14, 2026

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