Design objectives with non‐zero prescribed support displacements

When non‐zero prescribed support displacements are involved in addition to design independent loads for a continuum/structure, then the objectives of minimum compliance (total elastic energy) and of maximum strength lead to different designs. This is verified by the presented sensitivities. Designs from neither of the two objectives are characterized by uniformly distributed energy density. However, simple iterations with the goal of obtaining uniform energy density show that the strength is favored by this approach. These observations leads to a rejection of the objectives of compliance minimization as well as that of direct strength maximization; we choose the objective of obtaining uniform energy density and show by examples that the obtained solutions are close to fulfilling also strength maximization, with the price of increased compliance. Optimal design examples are presented and discussed in detail for different combinations of non‐zero prescribed support displacements and design independent loads.