Abstract
This work involves the design optimization of metal–ceramic through the thickness of functionally graded material (FGM) plates subjected to thermomechanical loadings. Constrained optimization was performed for minimum mass and minimum material cost of the FGM plates. The design process of FGM plate structures requires a good choice of metal and ceramic materials and the adequate definition of the components volume fractions through the thickness direction in order to accomplish a certain structural behavior, while optimizing the material costs and/or the plate mass. Here, the optimization problems are solved with the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm, not requiring the calculation of the derivatives of the objective or constraint functions. Constrained single objective optimization cases are studied, and validated with alternative solutions, considering the p-index and the FGM plate thickness as design variables. New optimization cases, involving additionally the metal and ceramic materials as design variables, are presented both for benchmark purposes and to demonstrate the suitability of the SA algorithm to solve those optimization problems.
Highlights
The desired thermomechanical behavior of functionally graded material (FGM) metal–ceramic plate structures can be achieved through the proper definition of volume fractions of the constituent materials and the metal and ceramic materials to be used
This review addressed several types of structure constituted from FGM, and noted that the most common optimization design variable in the reviewed researches is the material distribution pattern
The use of the simulated annealing optimization algorithm associated with a finite element model for the structural analysis of through-the-thickness FGM metal
Summary
The desired thermomechanical behavior of functionally graded material (FGM) metal–ceramic plate structures can be achieved through the proper definition of volume fractions of the constituent materials and the metal and ceramic materials to be used. Gupta and Talha [4], have addressed the theories found in the literature for modelling the deformation, stress, vibration and buckling analyses of functionally graded materials and structures. It has been remarked that the 3D analytical solutions for FGM plates are interesting for benchmark purposes, but their solution methods involve mathematical complexities and are time consuming. Those notes are important for the implementation of design optimization programs, since the most appropriate theories have to be chosen, looking for a good compromise between model accuracy and computational efficiency, knowing in advance that many evaluations of the objective functions and constraint equations are necessary
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