• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.191-210
• /
• 2007

The three different approaches (reformulations) of evolution strategies (ESs) have been proposed in the literature as extensions of the technique for solving discrete problems. This study implements an extensive research on application, evaluation and comparison of them in discrete optimum design of steel frames. A unified formulation is first developed to explain these approaches, so that differences and similarities between their inherent search mechanisms can clearly be identified. Two examples from practical design of steel frames are studied next to measure their performances in locating the optimum. Extensive numerical experimentations are performed in both examples to facilitate a statistical analysis of their convergence characteristics. The results obtained are presented in the histograms demonstrating the distribution of the best designs located by each approach. In addition, an average improvement of the best design during the course of evolution is plotted in each case to compare their relative convergence rates.

• Journal of KSNVE
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.632-642
• /
• 1998

A method based on finite element discretization is developed for optimizing the polarization profile of PVDF film to create the modal transducer for specific modes. Using this concept, one can design the modal transducer in two-dimensional structure having arbitrary geometry and boundary conditions. As a practical means for implementing this polarization profile without repoling the PVDF film the polarization profile is approximated by optimizing electrode patterns, lamination angles, and poling directions of the multi-layered PVDF transducer. This corresponds to the approximation of a continuous function using discrete values. The electrode pattern of each PVDF layer is optimized by deciding the electrode of each finite element to be used or not. Genetic algorithm, suitable for discrete problems, is used as an optimization scheme. For the optimization of each layers lamination angle, the continuous lamination angle is encoded into discrete value using binary 5 bit string. For the experimental demonstration, a modal sensor for first and second modes of cantilevered composite plate is designed using two layers of PVDF films. The actuator is designed based on the criterion of minimizing the system energy in the control modes under a given initial condition. Experimental results show that the signals from residual modes are successfully reduced using the optimized multi-layered PVDF sensor. Using discrete LQG control law, the modal peaks of first and second modes are reduced in the amount of 12 dB and 4 dB, resepctively.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.165-175
• /
• 2019

Incremental dynamic analysis (IDA), as an accurate method to evaluate the parameters of structural performance levels, requires many non-linear time history analyses, using a set of ground motion records which are scaled to different intensity levels. Therefore, this method is very computationally demanding. In this study, a new method is presented to estimate the summarized (16%, 50%, and 84% fractiles) IDA curves of a first-mode dominated structure using discrete wavelet transform and bees optimization algorithm. This method reduces the number of required ground motion records for the prediction of the summarized IDA curves. At first, a subset of first list ground motion records is decomposed by means of discrete wavelet transform which have a low dispersion estimating the summarized IDA curves of equivalent SDOF system of the main structure. Then, the bees algorithm optimizes a series of factors for each level of detail coefficients in discrete wavelet transform. The applied factors change the frequency content of original ground motion records which the generated ground motions records can be utilized to reliably estimate the summarized IDA curves of the main structure. At the end, to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed method, the seismic behavior of a typical 3-story special steel moment frame, subjected to a set of twenty ground motion records is compared with this method.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
• /
• v.16 no.8
• /
• pp.1033-1038
• /
• 2002

Genetic alsorithm (GA) , compared to the gradient-based optimization, has advantages of convergence to a global optimized solution. The genetic algorithm requires so many number of analyses that may cause high computational cost for genetic search. This paper proposes a personal computer network programming based on TCP/IP protocol and client-server model using socket, to improve processing speed of the genetic algorithm for optimization of composite laminated structures. By distributed processing for the generated population, improvement in processing speed has been obtained. Consequently, usage of network-based genetic algorithm with the faster network communication speed will be a very valuable tool for the discrete optimization of large scale and complex structures requiring high computational cost.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.62 no.5
• /
• pp.537-550
• /
• 2017

Structural sizing is a rewarding task due to its non-convex constrained nature in the design space. In order to provide both global exploration and proper search refinement, a hybrid method is developed here based on outstanding features of Evolutionary Computing and Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization. The new method introduces an observer phase for memory exploitation in addition to vector-sum movements in the original teacher and learner phases. Proper integer coding is suited and applied for structural size optimization together with a fly-to-boundary technique and an elitism strategy. Performance of the proposed method is further evaluated treating a number of truss examples compared with teaching-learning-based optimization. The results show enhanced capability of the method in efficient and stable convergence toward the optimum and effective capturing of high quality solutions in discrete structural sizing problems.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.263-278
• /
• 2018

Thermal Exchange Optimization (TEO) is a newly developed algorithm which mimics the thermal exchange between a solid object and its surrounding fluid. In this paper, an improved version of the TEO is developed to fix the shortcomings of the standard version. To demonstrate the viability of the new algorithm, the CEC 2016's single objective problems are considered along with the discrete size optimization of benchmark skeletal structures. Problem specific constraints are handled using a fly-back mechanism. The results show the validity of the improved TEO method compared to its standard version and a number of well-known algorithms.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.457-482
• /
• 2014

This paper summarizes available literature on the optimization of reinforced concrete (RC) beams. The objective of optimization (e.g. minimum cost or weight), the design variables and the constraints considered by different studies vary widely and therefore, different optimization methods have been employed to provide the optimal design of RC beams, whether as isolated structural components or as part of a structural frame. The review of literature suggests that nonlinear deterministic approaches can be efficiently employed to provide optimal design of RC beams, given the small number of variables. This paper also presents spreadsheet implementation of cost optimization of RC beams in the familiar MS Excel environment to illustrate the efficiency of the exhaustive enumeration method for such small discrete search spaces and to promote its use by engineers and researchers. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is performed on the contribution of various design parameters to the variability of the overall cost of RC beams.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
• /
• v.42 no.2 s.140
• /
• pp.175-182
• /
• 2005

It is necessary to develop an efficient optimization technique to optimize the engineering structures which have given design spaces, discrete design values and several design goals. As optimization techniques, direct search method and stochastic search method are widely used in designing of engineering structures. The merit of the direct search method is to search the optimum points rapidly by considering the search direction, step size and convergence limit. And the merit of the stochastic search method is to obtain the global optimum points by spreading point randomly entire the design spaces. In this paper, a Pareto optimal based multi-objective function method (PMOFM) is developed by considering the search direction based on Pareto optimal points, step size, convergence limit and random search generation . The PMOFM can also apply to the single objective function problems, and can consider the discrete design variables such as discrete plate thickness and discrete stiffener spaces. The design results are compared with existing Evolutionary Strategies (ES) method by performing the design of double bottom structures which have discrete plate thickness and discrete stiffener spaces.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.12 no.5 s.48
• /
• pp.503-513
• /
• 2000

This study treats the criteria, considering the fuzziness occurred by optimization design. And we applied two weighting methods to show the relative importance of criteria. This study develops multi-objective optimization programs implementing plain stress analysis by FEM and discrete optimization design uniformaly. The developed program performs a sample design of 10-member steel truss. This study can carry over the multi-objective optimization based on total system fuzzy-genetic algorithms while performing the stress analysis and optimization design. Especially, when general optimization with unreliable constraints is cannot be solve this study can make optimization design closed to realistic with fuzzy theory.

• Advanced Composite Materials
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.297-314
• /
• 2009

A design method is proposed to optimize the stacking sequence of laminated composite plates for desired vibration characteristics. The objective functions are the natural frequencies of the laminated plates, and three types of optimization problems are studied where the fundamental frequency and the difference of two adjacent frequencies are maximized, and the difference between the target and actual frequencies is minimized. The design variables are a set of discrete values of fiber orientation angles with prescribed increment in the layers of the plates. The four lamination parameters are used to describe the bending property of a symmetrically laminated plate, and are optimized by a gradient method in the first stage. A new technique is introduced in the second stage to convert from the optimum four lamination parameters into the stacking sequence that is composed of the optimum fiber orientation angles of all the layers. Plates are divided into sub-domains composed of the small number of layers and designed sequentially from outer domains. For each domain, the optimum angles are determined by minimizing the errors between the optimum lamination parameters obtained in the first step and the parameters for all possible discrete stacking sequence designs. It is shown in numerical examples that this design method can provide with accurate optimum solutions for the stacking sequence of vibrating composite plates with various boundary conditions.