Publisher's Synopsis
Optimization plays a critical in engineering today. To carry out an engineering optimization study, a thorough understanding of the underlying theory is essential. This must also be accompanied by a good grasp of the modeling process (i.e., translation of engineering problems into optimization problems), and interpretation of numerical results. With these objectives in mind, this text addresses optimization from three different perspectives: theoretical, physical and numerical, providing a unique blend. While the focus is on optimization of elastic components, the principles and concepts are applicable to other engineering domains as well. The primary audience include senior undergraduate students, first year graduate students and practicing engineers. No prior background in optimization theory, or computer programming is assumed. The text takes the reader from the fundamentals of 1D optimization, all the way to the fascinating world of 3D shape and topology optimization. Several MATLAB examples are provided throughout the text; these not only illustrate the underlying theory, but they encourage the reader to experiment.
