• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.5
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• pp.611-622
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• 2021

Composite material-due to low density-causes weight savings, which results in lower fuel consumption of transport vehicles. The aim of the research was to change the existing base-plate of the aluminum airplane container with the composite sandwich plate in order to reduce the weight of the containers of cargo aircrafts. The newly constructed sandwich plate consists of aluminum honeycomb core and composite face-sheets. The face-sheets consist of glass or carbon or hybrid fiber layers. The orientations of the fibers in the face-sheets were 0°, 90° and ±45°. Multi-objective optimization method was elaborated for the newly constructed sandwich plates. Based on the design aim, the importance of the objective functions (weight and cost of sandwich plates) was the same (50%). During the optimization nine design constraints were considered: stiffness, deflection, facing stress, core shear stress, skin stress, plate buckling, shear crimping, skin wrinkling, intracell buckling. The design variables were core thickness and number of layers of the face-sheets. During the optimization both the Weighted Normalized Method of the Excel Solver and the Genetic Algorithm Solver of Matlab software were applied. The mechanical properties of composite face-sheets were calculated by Laminator software according to the Classical Lamination Plate Theory and Tsai-Hill failure criteria. The main added-value of the study is that the multi-objective optimization method was elaborated for the newly constructed sandwich structures. It was confirmed that the optimal new composite sandwich construction-due to weight savings and lower fuel consumption of cargo aircrafts - is more advantageous than conventional all-aluminum container.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.7-17
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• 1990

The objective of this paper is to provide a method of optimizing are as of the members as well as shape of both truss and arch structures. The design process includes satisfaction of stress and Euler buckling stress constraints for truss and combined stress constraints for arch structures. In order to reduce the number of detailed finite element analysis, the Force Approximation Method is used. A finite element analysis of the initial structure is performed and the gradients of the member end forces are calculated with respect to the areas and nodal coordinates. The gradients are used to form an approximate structural analysis based on first order Taylor series expansions of the member end forces. Using move limits, a numerical optimizer minimizes the volume of the structure with information from the approximate structural analysis. Numerical examples are performed and compared with other methods to demonstrate the efficiency and reliability of the Force Approximation Method for shape optimization. It is shown that the number of finite element analysis is greatly reduced and that it leads to a highly efficient method of shape optimization of structures.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.1 no.1 s.1
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• pp.143-155
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• 2001

Generally, truss design has been determined by the designer's experience and intuition. But if we perform the most economical structural design we must consider not only cross-sections of members but also configurations(howe, warren and pratt types etc.) of single truss as the number of panel and truss height. The purpose of this study is to develope automated optimum design techniques for steel truss structures considering cross-sections of members and shape of trusses simultaneously. As the results, it could be possible to find easily the optimum solutions subject to design conditions at the preliminary structural design stage of the steel truss structures. In this study, the objective function is expressed as the whole member weight of trusses, and the applied constraints are as stresses, slenderness ratio, local buckling, deflection, member cross-sectional dimensions and truss height etc. The automated optimum design algorithm of this study is divided into three-level procedures. The first level on member cross-sectional optimization is performed by the sequential unconstrained minimization technique(SUMT) using dynamic programming method. And the second level about truss height optimization is applied for obtaining the optimum truss height by three-equal interval search method. The last level of optimization is applied for obtaining the optimum panel number of truss by integer programming method. The algorithm of multi-level optimization programming technique proposed in this study is more helpful for the economical design of plane trusses as well as space trusses.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.13-25
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• 2018

The main objective of this study is to develop a dual approach for geometrically nonlinear finite element analysis of plane truss structures. The geometric nonlinearity is considered using the Total Lagrangian formulation. The nonlinear solution is obtained by introducing and minimizing an objective function subjected to displacement-type constraints. The proposed method can fully trace the whole equilibrium path of geometrically nonlinear plane truss structures not only before the limit point but also after it. No stiffness matrix is used in the main approach and the solution is acquired only based on the direct classical stress-strain formulations. As a result, produced errors caused by linearization and approximation of the main equilibrium equation will be eliminated. The suggested algorithm can predict both pre- and post-buckling behavior of the steel plane truss structures as well as any arbitrary point of equilibrium path. In addition, an equilibrium path with multiple limit points and snap-back phenomenon can be followed in this approach. To demonstrate the accuracy, efficiency and robustness of the proposed procedure, numerical results of the suggested approach are compared with theoretical solution, modified arc-length method, and those of reported in the literature.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1405-1421
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• 2015

Semi-rigid connections are the actual behavior of beam-to-column connections in steel frames. However, the behavior of semi-rigid connections is not taken into account for the simplicity in the conventional analysis and design of steel frames. A computer-based analysis and design has been studied for the three-dimensional steel frames with semi-rigid connections. The nonlinear analysis which includes the effects of the flexibility of connections is used for this study. It is designed according to the buckling and combined stress constraints under the present loading after the joint deformations and the member end forces of the space frame are determined by the stiffness matrix method. The semi-rigid connection type is limited to the top and bottom angles with a double web angle connection. The Frye-Morris polynomial model is used to describe the non-linear behavior of semi-rigid connections. Various design examples are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the method. The results of design and analysis of unbraced semi-rigid frames are compared to the results of unbraced rigid frames under the same design requirements.

• Composites Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.224-229
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• 2012

The structural performance is degraded in case of embedding the array antenna for reconnaissance and surveillance into the wing skin structures. In this paper, the optimal design for the thickness of composite hat-shaped stiffener which is reinforced embedded array antenna on the simplified composite wing box was conducted. To select the basic shape of hat-shaped stiffener, structural analysis was carry out using the commercial finite element analysis program while changing the web slope and flange length of hat-shaped stiffener. The optimal thickness of the composite hat-shaped stiffeners was determined by using commercial optimization program such as VisualDOC and commercial FEA program with considering stresses and buckling constraints.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.197-208
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• 2010

An under-tension system is frequently employed for large-span structures to reduce the deflection and member size. In this study, a microgenetic algorithm was used to find the optimum cross-section of truss structures with an undertension cable under transverse loading. Maximum deflection, allowable stress, and buckling were considered constraints. The proposed approach was verified using a 10-bar truss sample that shows good agreement with the previous results. In the numerical results, minimum-weight design of the under-tension structure was performed for various magnitudes of pretension.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.465-474
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• 2011

In this study, a microgenetic algorithm was used to find the optimum cross-section and shape of dome structures. The allowable stress and Euler buckling stress were considered constraints when the weight of the trusses was minimum. The design optimization of the truss structures involved arriving at the optimum sizes of the cross-section and geometric coordinate. The features of the proposed method, which helped in the modeling of and application to the optimal design of truss structures, were demonstrated using the microgenetic algorithm, by solving sample problems.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.76 no.6
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• pp.799-821
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• 2020

The optimum design of truss structures is one of the significant categories in structural optimization that has widely been applied by researchers. In the present study, new mathematical programming called Consistent Approximation (CONAP) method is utilized for the simultaneous optimization of the size and shape of truss structures. The CONAP algorithm has already been introduced to optimize some structures and functions. In the CONAP algorithm, some important parameters are designed by employing design sensitivities to enhance the capability of the method and its consistency in various optimum design problems, especially structural optimization. The cross-sectional area of the bar elements and the nodal coordinates of the truss are assumed to be the size and shape design variables, respectively. The displacement, allowable stress and the Euler buckling stress are taken as the design constraints for the problem. In the proposed method, the primary optimization problem is replaced with a sequence of explicit sub-problems. Each sub-problem is efficiently solved using the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) algorithm. Several truss structures are designed by employing the CONAP method to illustrate the efficiency of the algorithm for simultaneous shape and size optimization. The optimal solutions are compared with some of the mathematical programming algorithms, the approximation methods and metaheuristic algorithms those reported in the literature. Results demonstrate that the accuracy of the optimization is improved and the convergence rate speeds up.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.16 no.1 s.68
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• pp.21-32
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• 2004

In this study, a continuous optimum design model with its application program for plane steel frame structures developed. In the model, the sequential unconstrained minimization technique (SUMT) transforming the nonlinear optimization problem with multidesign variables and constraints into an unconstrained minimization problem and the refined plastic hinge analysis method as one of the most effective second-order inelastic analysis methods for steel frame structures were implemented. The total weight of a steel frame structure was taken as the objective function, and the AISC-LRFD code requirements for the local and member buckling, flexural strength, shear strength, axial strength and size of the cross-sectional shapes of members were used for the derivation of constraint equations. To verify the appropriateness of the present model, the optimum designs of serveral plane steel frame structures subject to vertical and horizontal loads were conducted.