Title: A review on conceptual design with morphological indicators

Authors: T. Vandenbergh, W.P. De Wilde

Addresses: Department of Mechanics of Materials and Constructions, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Building Kb, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels, 1050, Belgium. ' Department of Mechanics of Materials and Constructions, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Building Kb, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels, 1050, Belgium

Abstract: The theory of morphological indicators (MIs) provides user-friendly tools guiding the structural designer towards low volume consuming solutions during the exploration and comparison of different structural types. Since the first doctoral thesis published by Samyn (1999), a decay of research has refined MIs into a benchmarked structural optimisation method for conceptual design. This paper surveys the milestones that lead to today|s method and contains the published references that contributed to the major evolutions of MIs.

Keywords: morphological indicators; conceptual design; structural optimisation; volume minimisation; fully stressed design; structural design; structural engineering.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTRUCTE.2010.033483

International Journal of Structural Engineering, 2010 Vol.1 No.3/4, pp.280 - 298

Published online: 02 Jun 2010 *

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