Optimal Design of Smart Structures

摘要

The goal of this study was to investigate the benefits of simultaneously designing an active structure's topology, active material treatment, and control law. Both static and dynamic structures were considered. The goal for static structure design was to satisfy given load capability and displacements when activated. The goal of the dynamic structure design was increased stability margin. It was found that simultaneous design increases the performance as compared to a conventionally designed structure. The topology of the structure and the active material treatment work together to create a system that is less sensitive to spillover instability. A library of homogeneous, mixed material finite elements were created to facilitate simultaneous topological optimization of active and conventional material structures. Additionally, a general, parallel processing active structure design tool was created that combines a genetic algorithm optimization code with commercially available finite element (ABAQUS) and control design (MATLAB) codes.