A shape optimization algorithm for cellular composites

Abstract: We propose and investigate a mesh deformation technique for PDE constrained shape optimization. Introducing a gradient penalization to the inner product for linearized shape spaces, mesh degeneration can be prevented within the optimization iteration allowing for the scalability of employed solvers. We illustrate the approach by a shape optimization for cellular composites with respect to linear elastic energy under tension. The influence of the gradient penalization is evaluated and the parallel scalability of the approach demonstrated employing a geometric multigrid solver on hierarchically distributed meshes.