OPTIMAL DESIGN OF ELASTIC STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS.
Abstract
The class of problems treated falls into the rapidly developing field of optimal structural design. A structure is initially laid out with its geometry fixed but with the distribution of material in the elements left to the designer's choice. The amount and distribution of material is chosen so that the structure performs some function and is best in some sense. The examples treated in this report take minimum weight as their optimality criterion. A broad class of optimal design problems is first formulated as an optimal control problem. Two methods of solving this class of problems are then presented and their application to optimal design problems is discussed. Three optimal design problems are formulated and solved in detail. These problems contain many of the features expected of real-world problems and illustrate the power of computational methods which can be applied for their solution. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1969
- Accession Number
- AD0688139
Entities
People
- Edward J. Haug Jr.
- R. Steven Newell
- Tommy D. Streeter