DESIGN OF STRUCTURE CONTROL-SYSTEMS WITH TRANSIENT-RESPONSE CONSTRAINTS EXHIBITING RELATIVE MINIMA

Structural optimization problems involving dynamic behaviour constrain ts often exhibit nonconvex design spaces. The direct application of a global optimization algorithm requires a large number of function eval uations which in turn require a large number of dynamic structural ana lyses. This work presents a strategy aimed at finding the global optim um for problems with transient dynamic behaviour constraints based on approximation concepts. The method consists of generating and solving a sequence of approximate problems using a global optimizer. The appro ximations are explicit and capture most of the inherent nonconvexity o f the exact functions. A simple example problem is presented to illust rate the procedure set forth.