| The study presented in this dissertation investigates the development of an efficient and user friendly computer based procedure for the optimum design of large-scale truss structures subjected to sinusoidal loadings. The procedure utilizes a scheme for automated formulation of the system equations and applies successive iteration and linear programming algorithms for the optimization.; The developed procedure proved to be orders of magnitudes computationally faster than nonlinear programming for large-scale truss structures. It also guarantees convergence to the optimum solution from any arbitrary initial guess, contrary to nonlinear programming which will not generally converge without a good initial guess. Harmonic forces, impulsive loading, and ground disturbances are considered in this investigation. |
