Constant-weight fully stressed methods for topological design of continuum structures Original Research Article

This paper presents two constant-weight fully stressed (CFS) topological design methods that can be used to seek a fully stressed structural configuration by using iterative mass removing and then redistributing processes according to the stress level of each finite element of the structure. The two constant-weight fully stressed approaches are capable of maintaining the structure topology at a constant weight. Two fully stressed (FS) methods are tested against an existing fully stressed algorithm by Hinton and Sienz in two illustrative problems including a cantilever beam and a bridge.