Shape optimization of elasto-plastic structures and continua

This article is concerned with the sensitivity analysis and optimization of elasto-plastic bodies when isotropic strain hardening takes place. The ela sto-plastic behaviour of the material is governed by a nonlinear complement arity problem. After discretization the evolutionary state problem, associa ted with the optimal shape problem, is formulated as a sequence of nonsmoot h equations and a general form of the optimal design problem is treated by using a nonsmooth approach. The sensitivity analysis based on the adjoint-v ariable technique is derived for a history-dependent problem. As applicatio ns optimal design problems are solved for an elasto-plastic truss structure and for an elasto-plastic continuum. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Scienc e S.A. All rights reserved.