ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how optimality criteria can be modified and used for structural topology optimization, pile layout and size optimization, structural identification and structural damage detection. It provides the versatility of the generalized optimality-criteria technique. The chapter also shows how the basic concept of optimality criterion can be used for nonstandard structural-optimization problems. It demonstrates the application of the optimality-criteria method to topology-based optimization problems. The chapter discusses the application of the optimality-criteria method to the optimization of a cantilever, modelled using 2-D, four node, rectangular finite elements. It explores the use of optimality-criterion-based optimization as a tool to identify the elemental stiffnesses for a given structure using limited loadings and measured response data. Pile optimization is complicated by the fact that it is a combination of topology and discrete-size optimization. Most often pile optimization is based on saving weight or construction costs which are essentially related to the number of required piles, their slopes and their sizes.
