A structural shape optimization system using the two-dimensional boundary contour method

Summary The research recently conducted has demonstrated that the Boundary Contour Method (BCM) is very competitive with the Boundary Element Method (BEM) in linear elasticity Design Sensitivity Analysis (DSA). Design Sensitivity Coefficients (DSCs), required by numerical optimization methods, can be efficiently and accurately obtained by two different approaches using the two-dimensional (2-D) BCM as presented in Refs. 1] and 2]. These approaches originate from the Boundary Integral Equation (BIE). As discussed in 2], the DSCs given by both BIE-based DSA approaches are identical, and thus the users can choose either of them in their applications. In order to show the advantages of this class of DSA in structural shape optimization, an efficient system is developed in which the BCM as well as a BIE-based DSA approach are coupled with a mathematical programming algorithm to solve optimal shape design problems. Numerical examples are presented. Received 20 July 1998; accepted for publication 7 December 1998