We propose a new look at the problem of truss topology optimization with integer or binary variables. We show that the problem can be equivalently formulated as an integer \emph{linear} semidefinite optimization problem. This makes its numerical solution much easier, compared to existing approaches. We demonstrate that one can use an off-the-shelf solver with default settings and solve problems considered in the current literature too hard or even impossible to be solved.
Citation
Preprint 2010/09, School of MAthematics, University of Birmingham, UK, May 2010