Topology optimization is used to systematically design contact-aided thermo-mechanical regulators, i.e. components whose effective thermal conductivity is tunable by mechanical deformation and contact. The thermo-mechanical interactions are modeled using a fully coupled non-linear thermo-mechanical finite element framework. To obtain the intricate heat transfer response, the components leverage self-contact, which is modeled using a third medium contact method. The effective heat transfer properties of the regulators are tuned by solving a topology optimization problem using a traditional gradient based algorithm. Several designs of thermo-mechanical regulators in the form of switches, diodes and triodes are presented.
@article{arxiv.2406.00865,
title = {Topology optimization of contact-aided thermo-mechanical regulators},
author = {Anna Dalklint and Joe Alexandersen and Andreas Henrik Frederiksen and Konstantinos Poulios and Ole Sigmund},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.00865},
year = {2024}
}