A SHAPE OPTIMIZATION METHOD BASED ON IMPLICIT DIFFERENTIATION AND NODE REMOVAL TECHNIQUES

This paper presents a methodology for the generation of optimal shapes of structural members. This work is based on altering the finite elem ent model of the structure by removing or restoring nodes to generate optimum designs subject to constraints on maximum stress value and mai ntenance of connectivity in the model. A sequential linear programming algorithm is utilized to determine optimum positions of the boundary nodes. Based on the results, at each iteration a binary decision is pe rformed to determine which nodes should be removed or restored A corre ction factor is used in this study to compensate for the error caused by linearization of the stress function.