ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF PRISMATIC PLATE AND SHELL STRUCTURES WITH CURVED PLANFORM .2. SHAPE OPTIMIZATION

This second part of the paper deals with the development and applicati on of computational tools for structural shape optimization of prismat ic folded plates and shells with curved planform. The structural analy sis is carried out using the finite strip method formulated and tested in part I of this paper. Several examples of prismatic folded plates and shells are presented illustrating optimal shapes obtained by minim izing weight or strain energy. The changes in the relative contributio ns of the bending, membrane and shear strain energies are also monitor ed during the whole process of optimization to study energy distributi on in optimum structures.