SHAPE SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS FOR NONLINEAR STEADY-STATE HEAT-CONDUCTIONPROBLEMS

In this paper the Kirchhoff transformation for shape sensitivity analy sis of bodies with steady-state non-linear heat conduction is consider ed. The approach reduces the non-linear thermal problem to the standar d Laplace problem. The variation of a general integral functional is d escribed in terms of adjoint quantities. The design sensitivities are calculated using the material derivative concept. A thermal diffuser p roblem is considered to illustrate the method proposed. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.