SHAPE OPTIMIZATION IN FRICTIONLESS CONTACT PROBLEMS

A finite element approach for shape optimization in two-dimensional (2 -D) frictionless contact problems is presented in this work. The goal is to find the shape that gives a constant distribution of stresses al ong the contact boundary. The whole formulation, including mathematica l model for the unilateral problem, sensitivity analysis and geometry definition is treated in a continuous form, independently of the discr etization in finite elements. Shape optimization is performed by direc t modification of geometry through B-spline curves an automatic mesh g enerator is used at each new configuration to provide the finite eleme nt input data for numerical analysis and sensitivity computations. Usi ng augmented-Lagrangian techniques (to solve the contact problem) and an interior-point mathematical-programming algorithm (for shape optimi zation), we obtain several results reported at the end of the article.