AN INVERSE EIGENVALUE FORMULATION FOR OPTIMIZING THE DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF PIN-JOINTED STRUCTURES

An efficient relationship between geometric and material properties of pin-jointed truss structures and their eigenvalues is established. The problem is formulated as an inverse eigenvalue problem. This formulation allows the determination of the required modifications on the structural members to achieve specified eigenfrequencies. In addition to the modification of the existing structural elements, the formulation also allows addition of new structural elements to obtain the desired frequencies. Using the proposed inverse method, two cases of plane as well as space truss structures are studied and the results are compared with those obtained using the conventional optimization techniques adopted by commercial finite element codes.