STRUCTURAL DESIGN OPTIMIZATION AS A TECHNOLOGY SOURCE FOR DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ELECTROMAGNETICS DOMAIN

The growing interest in optimization in recent years reflects a realization of the effectiveness of numerical techniques for improving electromagnetic performance as well as the confidence in the presently available numerical field calculation methods. In the field of structural engineering, design optimization methods had emerged as early as 1960 and as of today they represent a mature engineering discipline. In a majority of publications On electromagnetic device optimization based on the finite element method, cross-references to the available technology of structural optimization are missing. The purpose of this paper is to place recent developments in the electromagnetic domain in context with the experiences in structural engineering and to provide an extensive survey of the literature available. Several examples demonstrate how the readily available concepts of structural design optimization may be utilized in the development of design methodologies for electromagnetic optimization.