Structural shape Optimization using Boundary Elements and the Biological Growth Method

C. WESSEL; A.P.CISILINO; B. SENSALE

STRUCTURAL AND MULTIDISCIPLINARY OPTIMIZATION

Spriger

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2004 vol. 28 p. 221 - 227

1615-147X

Abstract A numerical evolutionary procedure for the structural optimisation for stress reduction of two-dimensional structures is presented in this paper. The proposed procedure couples the biological growth method (BGM) with the boundary element method (BEM). The boundary-only intrinsic characteristic of BEM together with its accuracy in the boundary displacement and stress solutions make BEM especially attractive for solving shape-optimisation problems. Twoformulations of BEM are used in this work: the standard for two-dimensional elastostatics for the stress analysis and the dual reciprocity method (DRM), which is used to model the swelling or shrinking of the material. Two examples are analysed to illustrate the proposed methodology and to demonstrate its versatility and robustness.