A NOVEL METHOD OF STRUCTURAL SHAPE OPTIMIZATION COUPLING BEM WITH AN OPTIMIZATION METHOD BASED ON BIOLOGICAL GROWTH

Local stress peaks are the main reason for fatigue failure of structur es, and therefore many researchers make every effort to search for eff ective methods of structural shape optimization. Mattheck and Burkhard (1990) have developed a method by simulating the self-optimization me chanism of biological growth, using FEM. BEM is a very effective metho d in which only the boundary is divided into elements, and particularl y, accurate results at the boundary can be obtained. It is obvious tha t BEM is a more suitable analysis method for structural shape optimiza tion than FEM. Coupling BEM of three-dimensional thermoelasticity prob lems with an optimization method based on biological growth, a novel m ethod of structural shape optimization is successfully developed by th e authors. Several examples are used to demonstrate that the method is successful and efficient.