Optimum Stiffener Design of Plate Using Cellular Automata

Abstract

In this study, the principle by which the ribs are formed in a leaf of tree is applied to resolve the problem of stiffeners in plate and shell structures. The generalized cellular automata are used to form a structure shape and the parameters are evolved by the genetic algorithm. The effectiveness of this method is confirmed through the numerical examples of the minimum compliance design problem of thin plates. Traditional constraint conditions such as the maximum plate thickness, plate volume and so on can be omitted by taking the ratio between the biggest deflection of plate with the stiffener and the corresponding deflection of uniform thickness plate under the equivalent volume as the objective function. The obtained optimum solutions are very similar to the leaf ribs and the shapes with more degrees of freedom.