Optimal design of an elastic beam with a unilateral elastic foundation: semicoercive state problem. (Q375439)

The paper is concerned with an optimal design problem for an elastic beam with a unilateral elastic foundation. The thickness of the beam and the stiffness of the foundation play the role of the control variables. The left end of the beam is moving vertically while the right end is free. These conditions yields the nonlinear state boundary value problem \[ (\beta t^3(x)u''(x))''+q(x)u^+(x)=f(x),\;x\in (0,l); \;u'(0)=u'''(0)=u''(l)=u'''(l)=0, \] where \(t\) and \(q\) represent the thickness of the beam and the stiffness coefficient of the foundation. The positive constant \(\beta =\frac {2}{3}bE\) involves the beam width \(b\) and Young modulus \(E,\;u^{+}\) is the positive part of \(u\). The variational formulation of the state problem and the existence and uniqueness conditions for its solution are derived. The cost functional has the form \(J(e)=I(e,u(e))\), \(e=\{t,q\}\in U_{ad}\). The existence of a solution of the optimal design problem \[ \text{Find}\;e^{*}\in U_{ad}\:\;J(e^{*})\leq J(e)\;\forall e\in U_{ad} \] is proved.