Generating optimal heat conduction paths based on bionic growth simulation

This paper proposes a novel topology optimization method for designing the best-possible heat conduction paths. The design idea is originated from the natural observation that plant roots or leaf veins care by self-adaptive growth to minimize the flow resistance through the whole networks. Based on the analogy between fluid flow and heat flow problems, the natural growth rule is systematically transformed into a mathematical model and written as an algorithm, where the high conductivity material is treated as being alive and the topology optimization process is viewed as plant morphogenesis process. Specifically, a new treatment called ‘conductivity spreading approach (CSA)’ is proposed to transform nodal temperatures of cooling channels into those of the background mesh, by which cooling channels can be separated from the underlying grid so that they can branch and extend freely along any direction. The growth method is used to construct the heat conduction paths for a fundamental ‘volume-to-point’ problem. Unlike other methods, layout solution produced by the suggested method is favorable to practical problems because it provides clear information about the location, orientation and dimensions of each cooling channel. In addition, the growth method requires little of human involvement and is easily delegated to computers, offering great advantage of automated design for large-scale cooling channel layouts in heat conduction systems.