Implicit-adjoint finite-volume topology optimization of two-dimensional conjugate heat transfer

Abstract

Designing compact, high-efficiency thermal architectures requires resolving the competing demands of solid conduction, fluid convection, and flow resistance within highly constrained physical envelopes. Density-based topology optimization provides a systematic framework for synthesizing these coupled layouts, yet the reproducibility and numerical stability of the resulting designs depend critically on the underlying discrete solvers and adjoint sensitivity mechanics. In this work, we present a transparent, self-contained two-dimensional finite-volume formulation on a staggered Marker-and-Cell grid for conjugate heat transfer governed by design-dependent energy transport coupled to Stokes--Brinkman or Darcy flow at fixed solid volume. To prevent spurious artificial thermal sources in porous, weakly compressible Brinkman domains, the discrete advection operator is constructed to satisfy the identity $\mathbf{u}\cdot\nabla T=\nabla\cdot(\mathbf{u}T)-T(\nabla\cdot\mathbf{u})$ cellwise, ensuring that uniform temperature fields remain exact discrete nullspaces even under inexact continuity satisfaction. Reverse-mode derivatives are evaluated via the implicit function theorem rather than unrolled iterative loops, yielding exact discrete adjoints with bounded memory requirements. The discrete operators are systematically validated through the method of manufactured solutions and directional Taylor remainder tests. Four representative thermofluid design benchmarks are optimized using a projected-gradient scheme with $β$-continuation, wherein candidate iterates are accepted and published only upon satisfying rigorous, predeclared gates on residual convergence, mass conservation, volume feasibility, and numerical finiteness. The resulting formulation provides an inspectable, deterministic reference stack for verifiable conjugate thermofluidic topology optimization.