• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.75-82
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• 2018

This study suggests an optimal design process of an LMU, which is installed on the top side of offshore structures. The LMU is consist of EB(elastomeric bearing) and steel plate, and supports the vertical loads of offshore structures and assists its stable installation. The structural design requirement of the LMU is related to its stiffness. This study utilizes the finite element analysis to predict the stiffness. The stiffness of the EB depends on the size of the bearing. Thus, the design variables in this study are defined as the thickness, the width and the number of plates. Since the LMU has different loads for different locations, its stiffness should be designed differently. The multiobjective function is introduced to attain the target stiffness. In this process, the metamodel using the kriging interpolation method is adopted to replace the true stiffness.