Shape morphing of laminated composite structures with photostrictive actuators via topology optimization

In this paper, a new design method is presented for achieving remote wireless shape morphing of laminated composite structures using topology optimization methods. A recently emerging family of smart materials, photostrictive materials, is introduced as the actuation discipline to implement the active control of optical structures by utilizing the photostriction mechanism, which arises from the superposition of photovoltaic effect and converse piezoelectric effect when exposed to the illumination of near ultraviolet light. In terms of the Mindlin plate theory of first-order shear deformation, a finite element formulation including multiphysics effects of photovoltaic, pyroelectric and thermal expansion is developed to model composite structures of ferroelectric materials polarized in 0–1 and 0–3 directions, respectively. The design is formulated as a multi-constrained optimization problem with a least square objective function to minimize structural shape errors. The topology optimization method is used as a systematic design approach to seek the optimal topologies of material layouts for both the photostrictive and host layers as well as the actuator light distribution. In terms of design sensitivity analysis, many gradient-based optimization algorithms can be applied to solve the problem effectively. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method in the field of active photonic control of laminated composite structures.