• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.37 no.E
• /
• pp.31-39
• /
• 1995

Weight minimization for the steel bridge girders using an approximation based optimization technique is presented. To accomplish this, an optimization oriented finite element program is used to achieve continuous weight reduction until the optimum is reached. To reduce computational cost, approximation techniques are adopted during the optimization process. Constraint deletion as well as intermediate design variables and responses are also used for higher qualitv of approximations and for a better convergence rate. Both the reliability and the effectiveness of the underlying optimization method are reviewed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.21 no.8
• /
• pp.1218-1228
• /
• 1997

The move limit strategy is used to avoid the excessive approximation in the structural optimization. The size of move limit has been obtained by engineering experience. Recently, efforts based on analytic methods are performed by some researchers. These methods still have problems, such as prematurity or oscillation of the move limit size. The existing methods usually control the bound of design variables based on the magnitude. Thus, they can not properly handle the configuration variables based on the geometry in the configuration optimization. In this research, the size of move limit is calculated based on the accuracy of approximation. The method is coded and applied to the two-point reciprocal quadratic approximation method. The efficiency is evaluated through examples.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.1041-1049
• /
• 2003

In this paper, a new local two-point approximation method which is based on the exponential intervening variable is proposed. This new algorithm, called the Two-Point Convex Approximation(TPCA), use the function and design sensitivity information from the current and previous design points of the sequential approximate optimization to generate a sequence of convex, separable subproblems. This paper describes the derivation of the parameters associated with the approximation and the numerical solution procedure. In order to show the numerical performance of the proposed method, a sequential approximate optimizer is developed and applied to solve several typical design problems. These optimization results are compared with those of other optimizers. Numerical results obtained from the test examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.29 no.9 s.240
• /
• pp.1243-1252
• /
• 2005

A current trend of design methodologies is to make engineers objectify or automate the decision-making process. Numerical optimization is an example of such technologies. However, in numerical optimization, the uncertainties are uncontrollable to efficiently objectify or automate the process. To better manage these uncertainties, the Taguchi method, reliability-based optimization and robust optimization are being used. To obtain the target performance with the maximum robustness is the main functional requirement of a mechanical system. In this research, a design procedure for global robust optimization is developed based on the kriging and global optimization approaches. The DACE modeling, known as the one of Kriging interpolation, is introduced to obtain the surrogate approximation model of the function. Robustness is determined by the DACE model to reduce real function calculations. The simulated annealing algorithm of global optimization methods is adopted to determine the global robust design of a surrogated model. As the postprocess, the first order second-moment approximation method is applied to refine the robust optimum. The mathematical problems and the MEMS design problem are investigated to show the validity of the proposed method.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.543-551
• /
• 2011

The paper deals with the comparative study of design optimization based on various approximation techniques in strength design of riser support structure installed on floating production storage and offloading unit(FPSO) using offshore operation loading conditions. The design optimization problem is formulated such that structural member sizing variables are determined by minimizing the weight of riser support structure subject to the constraints of structural strength in terms of loading conditions. The approximation techniques used in the comparative study are response surface method based sequential approximate optimization(RBSAO), Kriging based sequential approximate optimization(KBSAO), and the enhanced moving least squares method(MLSM) based approximate optimization such as CF(constraint feasible)-MLSM and Post-MLSM. Commercial process integration and design optimization(PIDO) tools are employed for the applications of RBSAO and KBSAO. The enhanced MLSM based approximate optimization techniques are newly developed to ensure the constraint feasibility. In the context of numerical performances such as design solution and computational cost, the solution results from approximate techniques based design optimization are compared to actual non-approximate design optimization.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
• /
• v.15 no.7
• /
• pp.876-888
• /
• 2001

For a large scaled optimization based on response surface methods, an efficient quadratic approximation method is presented in the context of the trust region model management strategy. If the number of design variables is η, the proposed method requires only 2η+1 design points for one approximation, which are a center point and tow additional axial points within a systematically adjusted trust region. These design points are used to uniquely determine the main effect terms such as the linear and quadratic regression coefficients. A quasi-Newton formula then uses these linear and quadratic coefficients to progressively update the two-factor interaction effect terms as the sequential approximate optimization progresses. In order to show the numerical performance of the proposed method, a typical unconstrained optimization problem and two dynamic response optimization problems with multiple objective are solved. Finally, their optimization results compared with those of the central composite designs (CCD) or the over-determined D-optimality criterion show that the proposed method gives more efficient results than others.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.313-322
• /
• 1994

Structural optimization has been developed by two methods. One is the direct method which applies the Nonlinear Programming (NLP) algorithm directly to the structural optimization problem. This method is known to be very excellent mathematically. However, it is very expensive for large-scale problems due to the one-dimensional line search. The other method is the approximation method which utilizes the engineering senses very well. The original problem is approximated to a simple problem and an NLP algorithm is adopted for solving the approximated problems. Practical solutions are obtained with low cost by this method. The two methods are compared through standard structural optimization problems. The Finite element method with truss and beam elements is used for the structural and sensitivity analyses. The results are analyzed based on the convergence performances, the number is function calculations, the quality of the cost functions, and etc. The applications of both methods are also discussed.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2020

In this paper, a procedure for automated optimized design of reinforced concrete frames has been presented. The procedure consists of formulation and solution of the design problem in the form of an optimization problem. The minimization of total cost of R/C frame has been taken as the objective of optimization problem. In this research, consistent approximation method is applied to explicitly formulate constraints and objective function in terms of the design variables. In the presented method, the primary optimization problem is replaced with a sequence of explicit sub-problems. Each sub-problem is efficiently solved using the Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) method. The proposed method is demonstrated through a four-story frame and an eight-story frame, and the optimum results are compared with those in the available literature. It is shown that the proposed method can be easily applied to obtain rational, reliable, economical and practical designs for Reinforced Concrete Moment Resisting Frames (RCMRFs) while it is converged after a few analyses.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.163-168
• /
• 2011

Robust optimization or reliability-based design optimization are some of the methodologies that are employed to take into account the uncertainties of a system at the design stage. For applying such methodologies to solve industrial problems, accurate and efficient methods for estimating statistical moments and failure probability are required, and further, the results of sensitivity analysis, which is needed for searching direction during the optimization process, should also be accurate. The aim of this study is to employ the function approximation moment method into the sensitivity analysis formulation, which is expressed as an integral form, to verify the accuracy of the sensitivity results, and to solve a typical problem of reliability-based design optimization. These results are compared with those of other moment methods, and the feasibility of the function approximation moment method is verified. The sensitivity analysis formula with integral form is the efficient formulation for evaluating sensitivity because any additional function calculation is not needed provided the failure probability or statistical moments are calculated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.55 no.6
• /
• pp.1121-1137
• /
• 2015

High powered computers and engineering computer systems allow designers to routinely simulate complex physical phenomena. The presented work deals with the analysis of two finite element method optimization techniques (First Order Method-FOM and Subproblem Approximation Method-SAM) implemented in the individual Design Optimization module in the Ansys software to analyze the behavior of real problems. A design optimization is a difficult mathematical process, intended to find the minimum or maximum of an objective function, which is mostly based on iterative procedure. Using optimization techniques in engineering designs requires detailed knowledge of the analyzed problem but also an ability to select the appropriate optimization method. The methods embedded in advanced computer software are based on different optimization techniques and their efficiency is significantly influenced by the specific character of a problem. The efficiency, robustness and accuracy of the methods are studied through strictly convex two-dimensional optimization problem, which is represented by volume minimization of two bars' plane frame structure subjected to maximal vertical displacement limit. Advantages and disadvantages of the methods are described and some practical tips provided which could be beneficial in any efficient engineering design by using an optimization method.