A compliant mechanism transfers or transforms motion, force, or energy unlike rigid-link mechanisms, however, compliant mechanisms gain at least some of their mobility from the deflection of flexible members rather than from movable joints only. Topology optimization is a mathematical approach that optimizes material layout within a given design space, for a given set of loads and boundary conditions such that the resulting layout meets a prescribed set of performance targets. In hybrid discretization, a design domain is discretized into quadrilateral design cells and each quadrilateral design cell is subdivided into eight triangular analysis cells to avoid point connection. Any two contiguous quadrilateral design cells are connected by four triangular analysis to avoid point connection. Any interior hexagonal design cell has six local topology search directions because a hexagon has six edges. There are eight local topology search directions for any interior design cell in hybrid discretization. Structural members of all directions (horizontal, vertical and diagonal) are serrated in hexagonal discretization. To compare the performance of hybrid and hexagonal discretizations, a hexagonal design cell is subdivided into six triangular analysis cells and the same number of design cells is employed for both discretization models.
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