Pointwise optimization of the material symmetry of an anisotropic elastic m
aterial with respect to fixed and specified stress (or strain) states is ac
complished. The conceptual variables in this problem are the type of materi
al symmetry and the orientation of the canonical symmetry axis for the mate
rial at a point in the material. The actual variables are the coefficients
of the elasticity (or compliance) matrix. The results are presented in the
form of the elasticity (or compliance) matrices that minimize the strain en
ergy with respect to specified, but arbitrary, stress (or strain) states.