A STUDY ON FORM EVALUATION OF FREEFORM SHELLS USING BENDING STRAIN ENERGY RATIO

This study addresses shape optimization and maximum bending strain energy design problems with bending strain energy as the objective function, subject to a constant amount of shape modification for shell surfaces. The difference between the maximum and minimum bending strain energy ratios is defined as the variation range. Based on the magnitude of this variation range, we investigate the sensitivity of the bending strain energy ratio to shape modification. By examining shells with various boundary conditions and openings, our results show that, for example, axisymmetric dome-shaped shells and trumpet-shaped shells exhibit high sensitivity to external forces in the vertical direction, but low sensitivity to external forces in the horizontal direction.