New optimality criteria methods: Forcing uniqueness of the adjoint strains by corner-rounding at constraint intersections

Abstract

In new, iterative continuum-based optimality criteria (COC) methods, the strain in the adjoint structure becomes non-unique if the number of active local constraints is greater than the number of design variables for an element. This brief note discusses the use of smooth envelope functions (SEF's) in overcoming economically computational problems caused by the above non-uniqueness.