OPTIMIZATION OF ELASTIC-PLASTIC BEAM STRUCTURES WITH HARDENING USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Elastic-plastic beam structures, subjected by distributed loads, optimization problems are considered in this paper. Mixed method is suggested to form static and geometrical equations by setting the finite element interpolation functions of internal forces and displacements. That allows forming optimization problems with restricted middle cross-sections of beams. General expressions of static and geometrical equations are presented for a beam subjected by a distributed load. The optimization mathematical models of elastic-plastic beam structures with linear hardening are formulated as quadratic programming problems. Results of numerical example are presented and briefly discussed.