AI Enables Structural Design

LU Tianjian; MENG Han; JIANG Yongfeng

doi:10.21656/1000-0887.470062

Volume 47 Issue 3

Mar. 2026

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Article Navigation > Applied Mathematics and Mechanics > 2026 > 47(3): 257-262

LU Tianjian, MENG Han, JIANG Yongfeng. AI Enables Structural Design[J]. Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, 2026, 47(3): 257-262. doi: 10.21656/1000-0887.470062

Citation:

LU Tianjian, MENG Han, JIANG Yongfeng. AI Enables Structural Design[J]. Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, 2026, 47(3): 257-262. doi: 10.21656/1000-0887.470062

Citation:

LU Tianjian, MENG Han, JIANG Yongfeng. AI Enables Structural Design[J]. Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, 2026, 47(3): 257-262. doi: 10.21656/1000-0887.470062

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AI Enables Structural Design

doi: 10.21656/1000-0887.470062

Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, P.R.China

Funds:

The National Science Foundation of China(U2570248；52361165626)

Received Date: 2026-03-06
Rev Recd Date: 2026-03-10

Available Online: 2026-04-01

Publish Date: 2026-03-01

Abstract

Abstract

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the research landscape of structural design. Based upon the long-established theoretical framework of mechanics, emerging AI technologies, particularly large language models (LLMs), are providing new cognitive tools and methodological perspectives for structural design. As the structural morphology space continues to expand and multi-scale, multi-physics coupling problems become increasingly prevalent, traditional design approaches relying on accumulated experience and local trial-and-error methods are approaching their limits in handling growing complexity. In this context, AI not only opens new possibilities for exploring high-dimensional design spaces, representing knowledge, and facilitating interdisciplinary integration, but also extends the way humans understand and analyze complex systems. Looking ahead, AI may enable new development pathways for structural design, including closed-loop frameworks integrating design, manufacturing, and testing, unified paradigms for multi-physics structural design, and the emergence of intelligent structural systems. These developments offer important opportunities for structural science to further expand its cognitive boundaries in an era increasingly shaped by intelligent technologies.
- mechanics,
- artificial intelligence (AI),
- large language model (LLM),
- structural design,
- metastructure

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References(17)

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