TRUSS TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION WITH SIMULTANEOUS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

Strategies for topology optimization of trusses for minimum weight sub ject to stress and displacement constraints by simultaneous analysis a nd design (SAND) are considered. The ground structure approach is used . A penalty function formulation of SAND is compared with an augmented Lagrangian formulation. The efficiency of SAND in handling combinatio ns of general constraints is tested. A strategy for obtaining an optim al topology by minimizing the compliance of the truss is compared with a direct weight minimization solution to satisfy stress and displacem ent constraints. It is shown that for some problems, starting from the ground structure and using SAND is better than starting from a minimu m compliance topology design and optimizing only the cross sections fo r minimum weight under stress and displacement constraints. A member e limination strategy to save CPU time is discussed.