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Theory and practice of structural optimization

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Abstract

Despite its progress over the last three decades, there is an obvious imbalance between the extraordinary growth of structural optimization theory and its negligible application to professional practice. What are the causes of this imbalance? How can it be corrected?

This paper attempts to answer these questions by surveying authoritative opinions on the subject. A reappraisal of the optimization nature, theory and practice suggests that the disappointing penetration of structural optimization in professional engineering is largely due to the confusion between theoretical and engineering models. It is suggested that an important step forward could be taken by focusing onengineering rather thanmathematical optimization, i.e. by starting from real problems in search of their optimal solutions, instead of starting from optimization algorithms in search of practical applications, as currently is often the case.

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    M. Z. Cohn

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Cohn, M.Z. Theory and practice of structural optimization. Structural Optimization 7, 20–31 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01742500

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