Singular Solutions in Structural Optimization Problems

ABSTRACT The application of standard stationarity conditions to the optimal design of a structure against buckling (or other eigenvalue constraints) may actually lead to a reduction of its real strength in the sense that the “optimized” structure has been weakened with respect to higher modes to the extent that these have now become fundamental. In this case a true optimum occurs when the magnitudes of several eigenvalues coalesce, and the corresponding optimality condition is then no longer stationary. This singular condition is derived and applied to several examples of major practical significance, together with a method of obtaining an approximate solution to the resulting set of nonlinear equations.