Optimal Prestress Research Articles

Optimal prestress against buckling: An energy approach

Structures that have a reserve capacity beyond buckling can generally be stiffened against buckling through the use of prestress. The design of prestress for such cases is treated in a way which leads to the maximization of the buckling load for a prescribed available prestress strain energy. The formulation given for this optimal design problem relates closely to the energy principles of structural analysis. Optimal prestress configurations are determined for the circular plate, and for a second example structure in the form of a stut-membrane system. Developments from the study of prestress design are related to past results from postbuckling analysis.

Optimal prestress reinforcement of cracked unilateral frictional structures: modelling and computational aspects

Optimal prestress of cracked structures with given frictionless and frictional crack interfaces is studied in this paper. The externally placed prestressing cables are modelled by the pin-load method. The static analysis (state) problem is a symmetric or nonsymmetric variational inequality. The arising nonsmooth and nonconvex optimal control problem is solved by a two level combination of nonsmooth optimization with structural analysis and sensitivity techniques.

Optimal Prestress Strengthening Of A MasonryLighthouse For Static And Earthquake Loading

The optimal prestress reinforcement of civil engineering structures is analyzed in this work. A modal analysis framework is assumed for the dynamic, aseismic design. The prestress action is modelled by means of induced temperature fields in the prestress cables. The optimal choise and the optimal placement of the tendons are treated by a ground (sub) structure technique. The proposed method is illustrated by means of numerical examples.