Material Behavior and Optimum Design of Structural Systems

Abstract

TO cope with more realistic material behavior in the structural optimization process, this paper introduces a general constitutive model based on seven parameters along with the secant stiffness method and the Rosenbrock's minimization algorithm. In addition, the concepts of reserve and residual strengths are used to study the effect of optimization on system strength and redundancy. Furthermore, stress and displacement behavioral constraints are considered both separately and simultaneously to investigate their influence on the optimum solution for brittle and ductile truss systems.