Abstract
Shear Panel Damper (SPD) made of low yield steel can dissipate seismic energy by plastic deformation. In this paper, we propose a shape optimization method for designing an SPD with high energy dissipation capacity. An elasto-plastic shape optimization problem under cyclic load is formulated, in which the negative plastic work is minimized under a volume constraint. The shape gradient function and the optimality conditions for this problem are theoretically derived, and they are applied to the H1 gradient method. With the method, the optimal three dimensional shape of an SPD is determined by iterative calculation of the shape gradient function and the shape updating. The objective functional is minimized in the iterative process, while maintaining the mesh regularity. The calculated results show the validity of this method for designing a high performance SPD efficiently.
