• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.49-59
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• 1985

Formulation of the geometric optimization for truss structures based on the elasticity theory turn out to be the nonlinear programming problem which has to deal with the Cross sectional area of the member and the coordinates of its nodes simultaneously. A few techniques have been proposed and adopted for the analysis of this nonlinear programming problem for the time being. These techniques, however, bear some limitations on truss shapes loading conditions and design criteria for the practical application to real structures. A generalized algorithm for the geometric optimization of the truss structures which can eliminate the above mentioned limitations, is developed in this study. The algorithm developed utilizes the two-phases technique. In the first phase, the cross sectional area of the truss member is optimized by transforming the nonlinear problem into SUMT, and solving SUMT utilizing the modified Newton-Raphson method. In the second phase, the geometric shape is optimized utilizing the unidirctional search technique of the Rosenbrock method which make it possible to minimize only the objective function. The algorithm developed in this study is numerically tested for several truss structures with various shapes, loading conditions and design criteria, and compared with the results of the other algorithms to examme its applicability and stability. The numerical comparisons show that the two-phases algorithm developed in this study is safely applicable to any design criteria, and the convergency rate is very fast and stable compared with other iteration methods for the geometric optimization of truss structures.