Shape optimization of elasto-plastic structures and continua Original Research Article

This article is concerned with the sensitivity analysis and optimization of elasto-plastic bodies when isotropic strain hardening takes place. The elasto-plastic behaviour of the material is governed by a nonlinear complementarity problem. After discretization the evolutionary state problem, associated with the optimal shape problem, is formulated as a sequence of nonsmooth equations and a general form of the optimal design problem is treated by using a nonsmooth approach. The sensitivity analysis based on the adjoint-variable technique is derived for a history-dependent problem. As applications optimal design problems are solved for an elasto-plastic truss structure and for an elasto-plastic continuum.