TY - EJOU AU - Li, S.L. AU - Long, S.Y. AU - Li, G.Y. TI - A Topology Optimization of Moderately Thick Plates Based on the Meshless Numerical Method T2 - Computer Modeling in Engineering \& Sciences PY - 2010 VL - 60 IS - 1 SN - 1526-1506 AB - A new implementation of topology optimization for the plate described by the Reissner-Mindlin theory based on the meshless natural neighbour Petrov-Galerkin method (NNPG) is proposed in this work. The objective is to produce the stiffest plate for a given volume by redistributing the material throughout the plate. We try to couple the advantages of the meshless numerical method with the topology optimization of moderately thick plate. The numerical approach presented here is based on the solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP) formulation of the topology optimization problem. The natural neighbour interpolation shape function is employed to discretize both displacement and bulk density fields. Several examples are provided to illustrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method. KW - topology optimization KW - meshless method KW - Reissner-Mindlin plate KW - the natural neighbour interpolation KW - SIMP DO - 10.3970/cmes.2010.060.073