Material optimization:: bridging the gap between conceptual and preliminary design

This paper presents a collection of tools for conceptual structure design. The underlying model is the 'free material optimization' problem. This problem gives the best physically attainable material and is considered as a generalization of the sizing/shape optimization problem. The method is supported by powerful optimization and numerical techniques, which allow us to work with bodies of complex initial design and with very fine finite-element meshes. The computed results are realized by composite materials. We consider a particular class of fibre-reinforced composite materials, manufactured by the so-called tape-laying technology. In the post-processing phase, stress/strain-trajectories are plotted which indicate how to place these tapes; they also show the proposed thickness of the tapes. Several examples demonstrate the efficiency of this approach to conceptual design of engineering structures. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.