Optimization of conical shells of Mises material

Conical shells made of a von Mises material are considered. The shells are subjected to unifromly distributed lateral loading and are simply supported at outer edges whereas inner edges are absolutely free. The shell wall is assumed to be of piece-wise constant thickness. Resorting to the lower boun d theorem of limit analysis, optimal designs of shells are established unde r given weight (material volume of a shell) which corresponds to the maximu m load carrying capacity.