OPTIMAL-CONTROL OF A VARIATIONAL INEQUALITY WITH CONTROLS IN COEFFICIENTS - APPLICATIONS TO STRUCTURAL-ANALYSIS - MINDLIN-TIMOSHENKO PLATE

A class of optimal design problems is considered where the state probl em is governed by a variational inequality. The latter includes an ell iptic operator, the coefficients of which are chosen as the design (co ntrol) variables. We give some sufficient conditions for the existence of an optimal control. The analysis in the abstract case is completed by introducing a finite dimensional approximation of the problem and by showing its convergence. Finally, we construct an example of an opt imization problem by means of the Mindlin-Timoshenko plate.