Optimal design of pitched laminated wood beams

The optimal design of a pitched laminated wood beam is considered. An engineering formulation is given in which the volume of the beam is minimized. The problem is then reformulated and solved as a generalized geometric (signomial) program. Sample designs are presented.This research was partially supported by the Office of Naval Research under Contracts Nos. N00014-75-C-0267 and N00014-75-C-0865; by the US Energy Research and Development Administration Contract No. E(04-3)-326 PA-18; and by the National Science Foundation, Grant No. DCR75-04544 at Stanford University. This work was carried out during the first author's stay at the Management Science Division of the University of British Columbia and the Systems Optimization Laboratory of Stanford University. The authors are indebted to Mr. S. Liu and Mrs. M. Ratner for their assistance in performing the computations.