Computer aided minimum weight design using BEM

Abstract

A mathematical programming technique and the boundary element method are combined to create the optimized shape of machine elements and structural components subjected to static external loads. The structural stress/deformation analysis and sensitivity analysis can be performed more correctly and elegantly by boundary discretization alone. The optimizer employed here is the so-called “method of inscribed hypersphere” which is known to be fitted for the object and constraint functions with weak nonlinearity. Minimum weight design of two-dimensional elastic structures is considered under the prescribed constraint conditions. Some numerical results demonstrate the validity of the proposed computational system even for the problem with the restriction expressed by an inequality.