Optimum shape problems for distributed parameter systems.

In this thesis the variation of a functional defined on a variable domain has been studied and applied to the problem of finding the optimum shape of the domain in which some performance criterion has an extreme. The method most frequently used is one due to Gelf and Fomin. It is applied to problems governed by first and second order partial differential equations, unsteady one dimensional gas movements and the problem of minimum drag on a body with axial symmetry in Stokes flow.