The topic of this book is homogenization theory and its applications to optimal design in the conductivity and elasticity settings. Its purpose is to give a self-contained account of homogenization theory and explain how it applies to solving optimal design problems, from both a theoretical and a numerical point of view. The application of greatest practical interest tar geted by this book is shape and topology optimization in structural design, where this approach is known as the homogenization method. Shape optimization amounts to finding the optimal shape of a domain that, for example, would be of maximal conductivity or rigidity under some specified loading conditions (possibly with a volume or weight constraint). Such a criterion is embodied by an objective function and is computed through the solution of astate equation that is a partial differential equa tion (modeling the conductivity or the elasticity of the structure). Apart from those areas where the loads are applied, the shape boundary is al ways assumed to support Neumann boundary conditions (i. e. , isolating or traction-free conditions). In such a setting, shape optimization has a long history and has been studied by many different methods. There is, therefore, a vast literat ure in this field, and we refer the reader to the following short list of books, and references therein [39], [42], [130], [135], [149], [203], [220], [225], [237], [245], [258].
