A moving bounds strategy for the parameterization of geometric design variables in the simultaneous shape optimization of curved shell structures and openings

• Simultaneous shape optimization of the curved surface and attached holes is modeled.
• A moving bounds strategy is carried out to determine the parametric reference domain.
• An arc-length rule is proposed to calculate allowable bounds of the reference domain.
• Design variables related to the hole shape are normalized to obtain fixed bounds.

A moving bounds strategy is proposed to implement simultaneous shape optimization of curved shell structures and openings. Design variables related to the hole shape are constrained in a planar reference domain by the moving bounds whose values are adaptively updated as functions of design variables related to the surface by an arc-length rule. It is shown that this strategy is essential not only to ensure the geometric consistence in the simultaneous design process but also to hold the shape-preserving of the mapped FE mesh from reference domains. Numerical results are presented to validate the proposed method.