Minimum Weight Design for Toroidal Shells With Strengthening Component

Abstract

This article presents an approach to the minimum weight design for toroidal shells with strengthening component subject to internal pressure. The optimal shape is obtained by adjusting the geometry and wall thickness of the cross section associated with the thickness and position of the strengthening component. Constraints include first yield pressure, plastic pressures, plastic instability pressure, and internal volume of toroid. The weight saving can reach over 70% in some toroid configurations. The comparison of two optimization methods shows that differential evolution (DE) slightly outperforms particle swarm optimization (PSO) in the majority of investigated cases.