Periodic concaves have been fabricated on the initial aluminum surface using nanoimprint and anodization processes to obtain high order nanostructured anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) arrays. The effect of the pattern design process on the one-and two-dimensional structures is investigated. Both the experimental and simulation results show that the interpore distance and the location of dissolutions in the aluminum sheet affect the strength and are dependent on the pattern design under high applied voltage. The results show that the interpore distance in the AAO is limited and the initial sites of dissolution are restricted to the inner corner/electrolyte interface. (C) 2010 The Japan Society of Applied Physics