• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.193-200
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• 2015

Direct-acting solenoid valves are used in the automotive industry due to their simple structure and quick response in controlling the flow of fluid. We performed an optimization study of response time in order to improve the dynamic performance of a direct-acting solenoid valve. For the optimal design process, we used the commercial optimization software PIAnO, which provides various tools for efficient optimization including design of experiments (DOE), approximation techniques, and a design optimization algorithm. 35 sampling points of computational experiments are performed to find the optimum values of the design variables. In all cases, ANSYS Maxwell electromagnetic analysis software was used to model the electromagnetic dynamics. An approximate model generated from the electromagnetic analysis was estimated and used for the optimization. The best optimization model was selected using the verified approximation model called the Kriging model, and an optimization algorithm called the progressive quadratic response surface method (PQRSM).

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.309-314
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• 2014

The structural layout of mechanical and civil structures is commonly obtained using conventional methods. For example, the shape of structures such as electric transmission towers and offshore substructures can be generated systematically. However, with rapid advancements in computer graphic technology, advanced structural analyses and optimum design technologies have been implemented. In this study, the structural shape of a jacket substructure for an offshore wind turbine is investigated using a topology optimization technique. The structure is subjected to multiple loads that are intended to simulate the loading conditions during actual operation. The optimization objective function is defined as one that ensures compliance of the structure under the given boundary conditions. Optimization is carried out with constraints on the natural frequency in addition to the volume constraint. The result of a first step model provides quick insights into the optimum layout for the second step structure. Subsequently, a 3D model in the form of the frustum of a quadrilateral pyramid is developed through topology optimization.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.223-233
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• 2011

A design optimization problem was formulated to minimize the volume of an RC building structure while satisfying design constraints on structural displacements under vertical, wind and seismic loads. We employed metamodel-based design optimization using design of experiments, metamodeling and optimization algorithm to circumvent the difficulty of the automation of structural analysis procedure. Especially, we proposed a design approach of repetitive design optimizations by stages with changing the side constraint values on design variables and limit values on design constraints until a satisfactory design result was obtained. Using the proposed design approach, the volume of the RC building structure has been reduced by 53.3 % compared to the initial one while satisfying all the design constraints. This design result clearly shows the validity of the proposed design approach.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.750-769
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• 2015

The geometry of engineering systems affects their performances. For this reason, the shape of engineering systems needs to be optimized in the initial design stage. However, engineering system design problems consist of multi-objective optimization and the performance analysis using commercial code or numerical analysis is generally time-consuming. To solve these problems, many engineers perform the optimization using the approximation model (response surface). The Response Surface Method (RSM) is generally used to predict the system performance in engineering research field, but RSM presents some prediction errors for highly nonlinear systems. The major objective of this research is to establish an optimal design method for multi-objective problems and confirm its applicability. The proposed process is composed of three parts: definition of geometry, generation of response surface, and optimization process. To reduce the time for performance analysis and minimize the prediction errors, the approximation model is generated using the Backpropagation Artificial Neural Network (BPANN) which is considered as Neuro-Response Surface Method (NRSM). The optimization is done for the generated response surface by non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II). Through case studies of marine system and ship structure (substructure of floating offshore wind turbine considering hydrodynamics performances and bulk carrier bottom stiffened panels considering structure performance), we have confirmed the applicability of the proposed method for multi-objective side constraint optimization problems.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.213-221
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• 2011

In this study, we discussed the weight reducing of a urban railway-car body, in particular, of the Korean EMU, by optimizing topology and size of aluminum extrusion profiles. The heaviest parts of aluminum railway-car bodies, i.e., the base plate of underframe and side panels of side frame composed of double skin structures are considered for optimization. Topology optimization process is applied to obtain get an optimized rib structure for the base plate. The thickness of ribs and plates of the topologically optimized base plate and the existing side panel are also optimized by employing the size optimization process. The results are verified by comparing the maximum von Mises stresses and maximum deformation in the case of the existing design with those in the case of the optimized design. It is shown that the weight of a base plate and side panel can be reduced by 12% and that the weight of the whole car body can be reduced by 8.5%.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.354-359
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• 2007

A new level set based topology optimization employing inner-front creation algorithm is presented. In the conventional level set based topology optimization, the optimum topology strongly depends on the initial level set distribution due to the incapability of inner-front creation during optimization process. In the present work, an inner-front creation algorithm is proposed, in which the sizes, positions, and number of new inner-fronts during the optimization process can be globally and consistently identified. To update the level set function during the optimization process, the least-squares finite element method is employed. As demonstrative examples for the flexibility and usefulness of the proposed method, the level set based topology optimization considering lightweight design of 3D shell structure is carried out.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.403-416
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• 2013

This paper describes new optimization strategy that offers significant improvements in performance over existing methods for geometry design of frame structures. In this study, an imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) and ant colony optimization (ACO) are combined to reach to an efficient algorithm, called Imperialist Competitive Ant Colony Optimization (ICACO). The ICACO applies the ICA for global optimization and the ACO for local search. The results of optimal geometry for three benchmark examples of frame structures, demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the new method presented in this work. The results indicate that the new technique has a powerful search strategies due to the modifications made in search module of ICACO. Higher rate of convergence is the superiority of the presented algorithm in comparison with the conventional mathematical methods and non hybrid heuristic methods such as ICA and particle swarm optimization (PSO).

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.421-427
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• 2014

Most of the structure of the real world is influenced under dynamic loads. However, when structure analysis and the structural optimization is performed, it is assumed that the static load acts on structure. When considering the actual load of dynamic loads in order to take into account a variety of loads, computational resources and time becomes a big burden in terms of cost. However, considering only the simple static load condition is not preferable for structural safety. For this reason, a lot of studies have been conducted trying to compensate this trouble by applying weight factor or replacing dynamic load with the equivalent static load. In this study, structural optimization techniques for structures under dynamic loads is proposed by applying the equivalent static load. From previous study, after determining the positions of equivalent static load based on primary degrees of freedom, the equivalent static load is calculated through the optimization process. In this process, the equivalent static load optimization of previous research is complemented by adding constraints to avoid excessively large load extraction. In numerical examples, dynamic load is applied to the truss structure and the plate. Then, the reliability of the proposed optimization technique is verified by carrying out size optimization with the equivalent static load.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.57-64
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• 2012

For the vibration control of earthquake-excited buildings, an optimal design method of integrated control system considering soil-structure interaction is studied in this paper. Interaction between soils and the base of the building is simply modeled as lumped parameters and equations of motion are derived. The equations of motion are transformed into the state space equations and the probabilistic excitations such as Kanai-Tajumi power spectral density function is introduced. Then an optimization problem is formulated as finding hybrid or integrated control systems which minimizes the stochastic responses of the building structure for given constraints. In order to investigate the feasibility of the optimization method, an example design and numerical simulations are performed with tenstory building. Finally, numerical results are compared with a conventional design case that soil-structure interaction is not considered.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics B
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• v.33B no.12
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• pp.95-105
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• 1996

This paper presents structure optimization of a feedforward neural netowrk controller using the genetic algorithm. It is important to design the neural network with minimum structure for fast response and learning. To minimize the structure of the feedforward neural network, a genralization of multilayer neural netowrks, the genetic algorithm uses binary coding for the structure and floating-point coding for weights. Local search with an on-line learnign algorithm enhances the search performance and reduce the time for global search of the genetic algorithm. The relative fitness defined as the multiplication of the error and node functions prevents from premature convergence. The feedforward neural controller of smaller size outperformed conventional multilayer perceptron network controller.