The method of stress variation applied to minimal design for multiple loading

The method of stress variation, previously developed for the optimal design of axisymmetric sandwich plates obeying the Tresca criterion for a single loading condition1–3], is extended to multiple loading conditions. The method consists of a systematic reduction in the design parameter until the optimum is reached. For the class of loadings treated in this paper, it is shown that repeated application of only a single stress variation is necessary to produce the optimum design for a simply supported plate. The method is such that it can easily be adapted to automatic computation, and the computer time required is simply proportional to the number of separate loads to be considered. An example of a simply supported plate for three separate loads is presented.