Optimization design of plates with holes by mimicking bones through nonaxisymmetric functionally graded material

Abstract

Abstract

The larger natural holes in bone are not involved in failure because of the special material distribution in their vicinity. In this paper, a procedure was developed that designs the nonaxisymmetric functionally graded material distribution around a hole in a plate in an attempt to mimic bone for increased strength at small weight increase by minimizing a failure index (stress/strength ratio). Nonaxisymmetric graded material distributions were represented by a generic continuous function of eight design variables. The results show that the optimal nonaxisymmetric functionally graded plate with a hole has a material distribution pattern similar to that found in bone, and the load-carrying capability of the plate can be greatly increased at small hole weight ratio#.