A discrete variable based methodology for topology optimization considering spatially uneven manufacturing errors

: Manufacturing errors (MEs) are unavoidable in product fabrication. The om-nipresence of manufacturing errors (MEs) in product engineering necessitates the development of robust optimization methodologies. In this research, a novel approach based on the morphological operations and interval field (MOIF) theory is proposed to address MEs in the discrete-variable-based topology optimization procedures. On the basis of a methodology for deterministic topology optimization (TO) based on the Min-Cut, MOIF introduces morphological operations to generate geometrical variations, while the dimension of the structuring element is dynamically set by the interval field function’s output. The effective-ness of the proposed approach as a powerful tool for accounting for spatially uneven ME in the TOs has been demonstrated.