• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.82-96
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• 2019

A semi-submersible structure has been widely used for offshore drilling and production of oil and gas. The small water plane area makes the structure very sensitive to weight increase in terms of payload and stability. Therefore, it is necessary to lighten the substructure from the early design stage. This study aims at an optimization of hull structure based on a sophisticated yield and buckling strength in accordance with classification rules. An in-house strength assessment system is developed to automate the procedure such as a generation of buckling panels, a collection of required panel information, automatic buckling and yield check and so on. The developed system enables an automatic yield and buckling strength check of all panels composing the hull structure at each iteration of the optimization. Design variables are plate thickness and stiffener section profiles. In order to overcome the difficulty of large number of design variables and the computational burden of FE analysis, various methods are proposed. The steepest descent method is selected as the optimization algorithm for an efficient search. For a reduction of the number of design variables and a direct application to practical design, the stiffener section variable is determined by selecting one from a pre-defined standard library. Plate thickness is also discretized at 0.5t interval. The number of FE analysis is reduced by using equations to analytically estimating the stress changes in gradient calculation and line search steps. As an endeavor to robust optimization, the number of design variables to be simultaneously optimized is divided by grouping the scantling variables by the plane. A sequential optimization is performed group by group. As a verification example, a central column of a semi-submersible structure is optimized and compared with a conventional optimization of all design variables at once.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.2215-2221
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• 2023

In order to further meet the requirements of weight, volume, and dose minimization for new nuclear energy devices, the bare-bones multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to automatically and iteratively optimize the design parameters of radiation shielding system material, thickness, and structure. The radiation shielding optimization program based on the bare-bones particle swarm optimization algorithm is developed and coupled into the reactor radiation shielding multi-objective intelligent optimization platform, and the code is verified by using the Savannah benchmark model. The material type and thickness of Savannah model were optimized by using the BBMOPSO algorithm to call the dose calculation code, the integrated optimized data showed that the weight decreased by 78.77%, the volume decreased by 23.10% and the dose rate decreased by 72.41% compared with the initial solution. The results show that the method can get the best radiation shielding solution that meets a lot of different goals. This shows that the method is both effective and feasible, and it makes up for the lack of manual optimization.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.2718-2731
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• 2024

To ensure the operational safety of nuclear power plants, we present a Quadruped Inspection Robot that can be used for many types of steam generators. Since the Inspection Robot relies on the Holding Modules to grip the tube-sheet, it can be regarded as a hybrid robot with variable configurations, switching between 4-RRR-RR, 3-RRR-RR, and two types of 2-RRR-RR, and the variable configurations bring a great challenge to dimensional synthesis. In this paper, the kinematic model of the Inspection Robot in multiple configurations is established, and the analytical solution is given. The workspace mapping is analyzed by the solution-space, and the workspace of multiple configurations is decomposed into the workspace of 2-RRR to reduce the analysis complexity, and the workspace calculation is simplified by using the envelope rings. The optimization problem of the manipulator is transformed into the calculation of the shortest contraction length of the swing leg. The switching performance of the Inspection Robot is evaluated by stride-length, turning-angle, and workspace overlap-ratio. The performance indexes are classified and transformed based on the proportions and variation trends of dimensional parameters to reduce the number of optimization objective functions, and Pareto optimal solutions are obtained using an intelligent optimization algorithm.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.381-395
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• 2024

With the wide application of urban subway tunnels, the foundation pits of new stations and existing subway tunnels are becoming increasingly close, and even zero-distance close-fitting construction has taken place. To optimize the construction support scheme, the existing tunnel's vertical displacement is theoretically analyzed using the two-stage analysis method to understand the action mechanism of the construction of zero-distance deep large foundation pits on both sides of the existing stations; a three-dimensional numerical calculation is also performed for further analysis. First, the additional stress field on the existing tunnel caused by the unloading of zero-distance foundation pits on both sides of the tunnel is derived based on the Mindlin stress solution of a semi-infinite elastic body under internal load. Then, considering the existing subway tunnel's joints, shear stiffness, and shear soil deformation effect, the tunnel is regarded as a Timoshenko beam placed on the Kerr foundation; a sixth-order differential control equation of the tunnel under the action of additional stress is subsequently established for solving the vertical displacement of the tunnel. These theoretical calculation results are then compared with the numerical simulation results and monitoring data. Finally, an optimized foundation pit support scheme is obtained considering the pit corner effect and external corner failure mode. The research shows a high consistency between the monitoring data,analytical and numerical solution, and the closer the tunnel is to the foundation pit, the more uplift deformation will occur. The internal corner of the foundation pit can restrain the deformation of the tunnel and the retaining structure, while the external corner can cause local stress concentration on the diaphragm wall. The proposed optimization scheme can effectively reduce construction costs while meeting the safety requirements of foundation pit support structures.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.795-804
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• 2002

The optimal design code of an axial flow pump has been developed to determine geometric and fluid dynamic variables under hydrodynamic as well as mechanical design constraints. The design code includes the optimization of the complete radial distribution of the geometry by determining the coefficients of 2$^{nd}$ order polynomials to represent the three-dimensional geometry. The optimization problem has been formulated with a nonlinear multivariable objective function, maximizing the efficiency and stall margin, while minimizing the net positive suction head required. Calculation of the objective function is based on the mean streamline analysis and through-flow analysis using the present state-of-the-art model. The optimal solution is calculated using the penalty function method in which the genetic optimizer is employed. The optimized efficiency and design variables are presented in this paper as a function of non-dimensional specific speed in the range, 2$\leq$ $n_{s}$ $\leq$10. The results can be used in preliminary design of axial flow pumps.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.584-589
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• 2009

As the automobile energy efficiency stands out an important matter of interest, the magnetic engine valve system receives attention. It has an advantage of no engine power leakage in opening and closing the valve. Moreover, it generates much bigger force than the piezo actuator system, so it can be a good alternative system of the cam and camshaft system. However, since the valve system is not light enough, it is necessary to make its weight reduce. In this study, topology optimization is applied to find the optimal shape of the armature in a magnetic valve system combined with the finite element analysis for the magnetic field analysis. The result is used to obtain a concept design. The adjoint variable method is employed in order to calculate the design sensitivity of the magnetic driving force in the armature component mostly to reduce the computational time during the repeated sensitivity calculation. The sequential linear programming is employed for the optimization algorithm.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.20-28
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• 2016

In this study, an efficient method of designing laminate composite radar absorbing structures (RAS) is proposed with consideration given to the structural shape so as to improve aircraft stealth performance. The calculation of the radar cross section (RCS) should be decreased to enhance the efficiency of the stochastic optimization when designing an RAS. In the proposed method, RAS are optimized to match up the input impedance of the minimal RCS, which is obtained by using physical optics and the transmission line theory. Single and double layer dielectric RAS for aircraft wings are employed as numerical examples and designed using the proposed method, RCS minimization and reflection coefficient minimization. The availability of the proposed method is assessed by comparing the similarity of the results and computation time with other design methods. According to the results, the proposed method produces the same results as the stochastic optimization, which adopts the RCS as the objective function, and can improve RAS design efficiency by reducing the number of RCS analyses.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.427-438
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• 2018

Static stability is a decisive factor in the design of domes. Stability-related external factors, such as load and supports, are incorporated into structural vulnerability theory by the definition of a relative rate of joint well-formedness ($r_r$). Hence, the instability mechanism of domes can be revealed. To improve stability, an optimization model against instability, which takes the maximization of the lowest $r_r$ ($r_{r,min}$) as the objective and the discrete member sections as the variables, is established with constraints on the design requirements and steel consumption. Optimizations are performed on two real-life Kiewitt-6 model domes with a span of 23.4 m and rise of 11.7 m, which are initially constructed for shaking table collapse test. Well-formedness analyses and stability calculation (via arc-length method) of the models throughout the optimization history demonstrate that this proposed method can effectively enhance $r_{r,min}$ and optimize the static stability of shell-like structures. Additionally, seismic performance of the optimum models subjected to the same earthquake as in the shaking table test is checked. The supplemental simulations prove that the optimum models are superior to the original models under earthquake load as well.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.191-201
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• 2010

This paper presents a new global optimization algorithm based on the branch-and-bound principle using Bspline approximation techniques. It describes the algorithmic components and details on their implementation. The key components include the subdivision of a design space into mutually disjoint subspaces and the bound calculation of the subspaces, which are all established by a real-valued B-spline volume model. The proposed approach was demonstrated with various test problems to reveal computational performances such as the solution accuracy, number of function evaluations, running time, memory usage, and algorithm convergence. The results showed that the proposed algorithm is complete without using heuristics and has a good possibility for application in large-scale NP-hard optimization.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.61-80
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• 2018

Location information of individual nodes is important in the implementation of necessary network functions. While extensive studies focus on localization techniques in 2D space, few approaches have been proposed for 3D positioning, which brings the location closer to the reality with more complex calculation consumptions for high accuracy. In this paper, an effective range-free localization scheme is proposed for 3D space localization, and the sensitivity of parameters is evaluated. Firstly, we present an improved algorithm (MDV-Hop), that the average distance per hop of the anchor nodes is calculated by root-mean-square error (RMSE), and is dynamically corrected in groups with the weighted RMSE based on group hops. For more improvement in accuracy, we expand particle swarm optimization (PSO) of intelligent optimization algorithms to MDV-Hop localization algorithm, called PMDV-hop, in which the parameters (inertia weight and trust coefficient) in PSO are calculated dynamically. Secondly, the effect of various localization parameters affecting the PMDV-hop performance is also present. The simulation results show that PMDV-hop performs better in positioning accuracy with limited energy.