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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare between two methods of volume control in the context of topological derivative-based structural optimization of Kirchhoff plates. Design/methodology/approach – The compliance topology optimization of Kirchhoff plates subjected to volume constraint is considered. In order to impose the volume constraint, two methods are presented. The first one is done by means of a linear penalization method. In this case, the penalty parameter is the coefficient of a linear term used to control the amount of material to be removed. The second approach is based on the Augmented Lagrangian method which has both, linear and quadratic terms. The coefficient of the quadratic part controls the Lagrange multiplier update of the linear part. The associated topological sensitivity is used to devise a structural design algorithm based on the topological derivative and a level-set domain representation method. Finally, some numerical experiments are presented allowing for a comparative analysis between the two methods of volume control from a qualitative point of view. Findings – The linear penalization method does not provide direct control over the required volume fraction. In contrast, through the Augmented Lagrangian method it is possible to specify the final amount of material in the optimized structure. Originality/value – A strictly simple topology design algorithm is devised and used in the context of compliance structural optimization of Kirchhoff plates under volume constraint. The proposed computational framework is quite general and can be applied in different engineering problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]