Problem Specification — Lesson 1

Consider a square plate with a hole in its center. The plate is made out of "Cornellium," which has a Young's modulus of 30E3 ksi and a Poisson's ratio of 0.3. The length and width of the plate are both 10 inches. The hole in the middle of the plate is subject to a uniform pressure of 18.5 ksi in the outward radial direction. Due to the symmetry of this problem only one quarter of the geometry is needed as shown below.

The radius of the hole is the design variable. Furthermore, the radius is constrained between a minimum value of 1.0 inch and a maximum value of 2.5 inches.

Using Ansys software, minimize the volume of the plate by optimizing the hole radius, while staying underneath a maximum von Mises stress value of 32.5 ksi.