A shape and topology optimization technique for solving a class of linear complementarity problems in function space (Q989848)

Linear complementarity problems (LCPs) in function spaces arise in many practical applications ranging from engineering science to computational finance. In this paper, the authors consider a shape and topology optimization driven solution technique for a class of linear complementarity problems (LCPs) in function spaces. The main motivating application is given by obstacle problems. Based on the LCP together with its corresponding interface conditions on the boundary between the coincidence or active set and the inactive set, the original problem is reformulated as a shape optimization problem. The topological sensitivity of the new objective functional is used to estimate the ``topology'' of the active set. Then, for local correction purposes near the interface, a level set based shape sensitivity technique is employed. The authors present a TOPSHAPE algorithm (a combination of shape and topological sensitivity) and report on numerical results obtained by the TOPSHAPE algorithm. Numerical experiments indicate that only a very small number of topology optimization steps is necessary to obtain a good approximation of the active set at the solution. Moreover, the iterations based on topological sensitivity appear to be rather mesh independent. The combination of domain decomposition and topological sensitivity could be an interesting future direction.