Shape design sensitivity analysis for stability of elastic continuum structures

This paper addresses a method for shape design sensitivity analysis of a buckling load in a continuous elastic body. The sensitivity formula for critical load is analytically derived and expressed in terms of shape variation, based on the continuum formulation of the stability problem. Though the buckling problem is more efficiently solved by structural elements such as a beam and shell, elastic solids have been chosen for the buckling analysis in this paper because solid elements can generally be used for any kind of structure whether it is thick or thin. The initial stress and buckling analysis is carried out by the commercial analysis code ANSYS. Sensitivity is then computed by using the mathematical package MATLAB with the results of ANSYS. Several problems including straight and curved beams under compressive load, ring under pressure load, thin-walled section and bottle shaped column are chosen in order to illustrate the efficiency of the presented method.