Abstract

This work reviews A. B. Templemans research in the maximum entropy principle applied to structural optimization, which consists in defining a probabilistic approach for the optimality criteria. This new reasoning does not assume aprioristically which conditions could be active in the optimum point, giving a completely rational point of view to the optimization problem. After reviewing the state of the art, a new formulation, which simplifies and improves previous methodologies, is developed. This new method turns the optimization problem into solving successively systems of equations with the same dimension as the number of design variables. Since this algorithm requires obtaining first order sensitivities, it can be considered as a new gradient method. After the theoretical description, the algorithm is tested with two examples of truss structures. Results show a good performance of the algorithm, based on comparisons with other alternatives found in the literature.