Shape Optimization by the Homogenization Method. Applied Mathematical Sciences, Vol 146

Abstract

3R25. Shape Optimization by the Homogenization Method. Applied Mathematical Sciences, Vol 146. - G Allaire (Center of Appl Math, Ecole Polytechnic, Paliseau Cedex, 91128, France). Springer-Verlag, New York. 2002. 456 pp. ISBN 0-387-95298-5. $79.95.Reviewed by MS Qatu (Ford Motor Co, EVB Bldg, MD X8, 20800 Oakwood Blvd, Dearborn MI 48124).This is mainly a research monograph on the theory and application of the homogenization method in shape optimization problems. Applications given in the book are in the fields of composite materials, conductivity, and elasticity with emphasis on the minimization of compliance. The audience for this book includes researchers and advanced graduate students in applied mathematics and engineers interested in the design of shapes of structures for conductive and elastic purposes. It also fits very well for material scientists with inclination towards theoretical aspects of design and analysis of composite materials. Based on the theoretical content and examples in the book, the word shape in the title should rather be understood as topology. In some engineering fields, shape is more related to boundary perturbation, however, the methods presented in this book are designed to define the boundary, rather than to perturb it. This concept of defining the boundary is closer to the idea of topology optimization as a material distribution problem. The book is divided into five chapters. The first chapter covers the subject of homogenization in quite details. Periodicity is first assumed and used to derive homogenized operators in elasticity by means of the two-scale asymptotic expansion. Definitions and proofs of H- and G-convergence are then presented in a rigorous way. The second chapter is titled mathematical modeling of composite materials. In this chapter, Allaire explains carefully the G-closure problem and its interpretations in the mechanical setting. Finding bounds on elastic properties of bi-phase materials is an old problem in mechanics that can be explained and treated mathematically with the help of the G-closure theory. Rank laminated materials are used to demonstrate the bounds derived in the book. Optimal design of materials under electric conductivity considerations is addressed in the third chapter. With an extensive number of proofs, this chapter explains the theory behind the computation of optimal topology (shape) using homogenization theory as a mean to relax the optimization problem. Composite materials are used to relax the problem, and homogenization of conductivity tensors is then used to go from an ill-posed problem to a well-posed one. Structural optimization has been an important subject of research since the days of Lagrange and Saint Venant. This chapter is the counterpart of the previous one, this time, in the field of elastic structures. Composite materials are again introduced to relax the optimization problem and homogenized elastic properties are computed in order to attain a solution to the problem. The minimization of compliance (maximization of stiffness) is addressed intensively in this chapter. The fifth and last chapter is titled Numerical Algorithms. Academic two-dimensional rectangular domains using quadrilateral elements in regular meshes are used to exemplify the theory presented in the previous chapters. Examples include minimization of compliance and maximization of eigenvalues. Multiple loadings and optimum topologies (shapes) of complaint mechanisms were considered. In summary, Shape Optimization by the Homogenization Method is an excellent book that complements very well the extensive literature in the field, including Sanchez-Palencia and Zaoui [1], Bendsøe [2], Cherkaev [3], and Bendsøe and Sigmund [4].