Topology Optimization of Metamaterials for Energy Dissipation

A novel design concept for buckling-induced mechanical metamaterials for energy dissipation is presented. A topology optimization formulation is proposed, where the force-displacement curves of the unit cells of the metamaterials are tailored to maximize the buckling-induced dissipated energy in a mass constraint. A two-phase algorithm is proposed to find the optimized result from a uniform initial guess. The optimized design has a larger amount of buckling-induced dissipated energy than the structural prototypes based on the designers' intuition.