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Optimum plastic design of unbraced frames of irregular configuration. (English) Zbl 0601.73087

An efficient algorithm is developed for optimum plastic design of low- rise unbraced frames of general configuration. The algorithm is based on the static approach of limit analysis without generating the independent mechanisms. Three equations of equilibrium are written at each joint of the frame to form the equality constraints. To increase the efficiency of the linear programming formulation, a revised simplex method is employed in which the inverse of the basis is represented as a product of elementary matrices. The elementary matrices are actually saved as column matrices to save storage in the microcomputer. Therefore, this approach is more efficient in terms of speed and storage. Based on the algorithm presented, a microcomputer program is developed for optimum plastic design of low-rise frames of arbitrary configuration on an IBM personal computer. The objective of such an optimal design is to find plastic moment capacities of the frame elements that minimize the weight of the structure. Three examples are presented in order to show the practicality of the optimum plastic design of frames on available microcomputers.

MSC:

74P99 Optimization problems in solid mechanics
74S30 Other numerical methods in solid mechanics (MSC2010)
74-04 Software, source code, etc. for problems pertaining to mechanics of deformable solids
74R20 Anelastic fracture and damage
65K05 Numerical mathematical programming methods

Citations:

Zbl 0601.73088
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