Simultaneous material/load/shape variations of thermoelastic structures

Simultaneous variations of material properties, load functions, and shape configurations of dynamic thermoelastic structures are considered. A continuous approach is adopted in order to find the total variation of a general performance criterion. The present analysis may find important physical applications in the simultaneous shape optimization and control of large space structures in time by applied thermal and/or mechanical loads. The adjoint variable method and the material derivative concept are used to find the sensitivity expressions, which are checked by a simple one- dimensional example problem. (Author)