Cellular automata for simultaneous analysis and optimal structural topology design

Abstract

The Cellular Automata (CA) paradigm has been finding more and more applications in engineering and sciences in the past decade, but nevertheless its use for engineering design has not been widely popular. The proposed chapter is a special and unique implementation of the paradigm for combined analysis and design of continuum structures made of isotropic and fiber reinforced orthotropic materials. In particular, the use of a computational approach for topology design of the structural domain together with its local field and design variables is discussed. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.