Modal characterization of additively manufactured TPMS structures: comparison between different modeling methods

The use of lattice structures has received increasing interest in various engineering applications owing to their high strength to weight ratio. Advances in additive manufacturing technologies enabled the manufacturing of highly complex lattice structures such as triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) models in recent years. The application of simulation tools is expected to enhance the performance of these designs further. Therefore, it is vital to understand their accuracy and computational efficiency. In this paper, modal characterization of additively manufactured TPMS structures is studied using five different modeling methods for a beam, which is composed of primitive, diamond, IWP, and gyroid unit cells. These methods include (1) shell modeling, (2) solid modeling, (3) homogenization, (4) super-element modeling, and (5) voxelization. The modal characterization is performed by using modal analysis, and the aforementioned models are compared in terms of their computational efficiency and accuracy. The results are experimentally validated by performing an experimental modal testing on a test specimen, made of HS188, and manufactured by direct metal laser melting. Finally, the relationship between the modal characteristics and volume fraction is derived by carrying out a parametric study for all types of TMPS structures considered in this paper. The complex modal characteristics of different TPMS types suggest that they can be jointly used to meet the ever-challenging design requirements using the modeling guidelines proposed in this study. © 2020, Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature.