OPTIMIZATION OF PLASTIC SHALLOW SHELLS EXHIBITING NONSTABLE BEHAVIOR

An optimal design technique is suggested for axisymmetric shallow shel ls exhibiting nonstable behaviour in the post-yield point range. The m aterial of the shells is ideally rigid-plastic obeying the von Mises y ield condition, which is satisfied in the average and the associated d eformation law. Spherical shells pierced with a hole and subjected to uniformly distributed transverse pressure are studied. Different cases of the support conditions are considered. Making use of the methods o f the optimal control theory the problem is transformed into a boundar y value problem which is solved numerically.