Redundancy Optimization of Finite-Dimensional Structures: Concept and Derivative-Free Algorithm

摘要

Redundancy is related to the amount of functionality that the structure can sustain in the worst-case scenario of structural degradation. This paper proposes a widely-applicable concept of redundancy optimization of finite-dimensional structures. The concept is consistent with the robust structural optimization and with the quantitative measure of structural redundancy on the basis of the information-gap theory. A derivative-free algorithm is proposed on the basis of the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method, in which the finite-difference method that adaptively varies the difference increment is used. Preliminary numerical experiments show that an optimal solution of the redundancy optimization problem possibly has multiple worst-case scenarios. (C) 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.