The present contribution investigates shape optimisation problems for a class
of semilinear elliptic variational inequalities with Neumann boundary
conditions. Sensitivity estimates and material derivatives are firstly derived
in an abstract operator setting where the operators are defined on polyhedral
subsets of reflexive Banach spaces. The results are then refined for
variational inequalities arising from minimisation problems for certain convex
energy functionals considered over upper obstacle sets in H1. One
particularity is that we allow for dynamic obstacle functions which may arise
from another optimisation problems. We prove a strong convergence property for
the material derivative and establish state-shape derivatives under regularity
assumptions. Finally, as a concrete application from continuum mechanics, we
show how the dynamic obstacle case can be used to treat shape optimisation
problems for time-discretised brittle damage models for elastic solids. We
derive a necessary optimality system for optimal shapes whose state variables
approximate desired damage patterns and/or displacement fields
