A rigid member is welded onto a beam, with a load applied to the end of the member. The total cost of production is equal to the labor costs (a function of the weld dimensions) plus the cost of the weld and beam material.
The design of the beam is optimized to minimize the production costs by varying the weld and member dimensions.
The constraints include limits on the shear stress, bending stress, buckling load and end deflection, and several size constraints.
The application uses Maple’s non-linear optimizers
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Samir Khan
