• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2001.06c
• /
• pp.565-571
• /
• 2001

As a method of structural optimization, a practical algorithm based on the Taguchi method is developed. The Taguchi method is applied iteratively updating the level values of design variables. The design region is translated or reduced during optimization and by appropriate choice of reduction factor and initial level intervals, a near-optimum solution can be found very efficiently. To treat inequality constraints, a variable penalty method is utilized. A software system named 'DS/Taguchi' is developed by integrating the proposed algorithm and commercial finite element analysis codes on the parametric CAD platform. Two examples are taken to examine the performance of the proposed algorithm and the developed software system.