Structural layout may be optimized by an evolutionary approach. The concept behind the evolutionary method is the removal of inefficient material from a structure in an iterative process. In this study, the evolutionary structural optimization is used to optimize the shape of a thin flat plate with constant thickness where it is subjected to an in-plan concentrated load at its boundary. Different loading and boundary conditions are considered. The rejection criterion for removing material is the von Mises plane stress level of the elements. The optimized shapes (layouts) are very similar to the Michell type structure (truss). The results obtained show the ability of this method for layout optimization with different loading and boundary conditions. The optimized shapes have the least weight associated with the defined stress level. Furthermore, the reduction of the volume of the optimized shapes are much more significant than their increase of the maximum von Mises stress.

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