Generalized Displacement Control Analysi?s and Optimal Design of Geometrically Nonlinear Space Structures

In this work, the generalized displacement control (GDC) method is investigated, and an applicable version of the GDC is introduced to perform the nonlinear analysis stage of the optimization procedure. The GDC method utilizes two significant features, which are the selection of the load incremental parameter and considering all degrees of freedom of the structure. Using these advantages, it can cross the limited points and snap through back regions of the force-displacement curve and become self-adaptive to the path of the load direction. To show that the GDC method is applicable for solving real-engineering optimization problems, several space structures have been analyzed and, the optimization section is performed by an enhanced hybrid PSOGA algorithm. To enhance the hybrid PSOGA, a new formula for the inertia weight is introduced to make the search phase dynamic. The cross-sectional area of the elements is considered as the design variable and, the weight of the structural elements is taken into account as the objective function. The results of this study compared to those of other researches show that the GDC method can use the ultimate capacity of the structure under displacement and stress constraints and is suitable for optimization problems.