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M.Sc. Degree in Mechanical Engineering: Methods For Advanced Mechanical Design
M.Sc. Degree in Mechanical Engineering: Methods For Advanced Mechanical Design
in analytical terms.
Structural design
Structural design
Summary
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M. Guagliano – Multiobjective optimization
Structural optimization
Task: how to find an optimal solution in a multi variable,
multi-constraint and (sometime) multi-objective problem?
MODELLING – CRITERIA
MODELLING – CRITERIA
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design problem.
That set is called “set of design criteria” and must be minimal
M. Guagliano – Multiobjective optimization
Structural optimization
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- Minimum mass
- Minimum deflection
DESIGN VARIABLES
• The design variables are the variables that are related
to the mathmatical model of the system during the
optimization design. These variables can be grouped
in a vector and can be identified as:
- Minimum mass
- Minimum deflection
DESIGN CONSTRAINTS
The constraints are conditions to guarantee the functions the
system is designed for.
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(a) Range of b and h values considered in the optimization step, (b) beam
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mass m(b, h) and beam deflection y(b, h). The set of the values in (b)
considers the constraints on the maximum stress and on buckling,
If a not optimal solution A is considered, other solutions exist that fit better
than A at least one objective function.
The solutions that do not lie on the bold line (with ymin and mmin as extreme
values) should be not considered by the design engineer.
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On the contrary, the optimal solutions lies on that line, called, detta “Pareto-
optimal set”. The solution the engineer should look at and choose should be
one of the Pareto optimal set the optimal solution is not unique.
M. Guagliano – Multiobjective optimization
Optimization of a cantilever
Example: optimized design of a rectangular cantilever - Summary
The solution of the problem where just the mass has to be optimized can be
expressed as:
This means that if the function to optimized is scalar, the optimal solution is
unique:
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By intuition and instinct the engineer is guided toward solutions localized near
the point U.
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Example:
Min f(a)=a P/a<Sy/η a<Amax
(a=cross section – P=applied load - Amax =maximum section - η=safety factor)
The optimal Pareto solutions are infinite. The full set of Pareto optimal solutions
defines the set of the optimal solution according to the Pareto theory.
Assigned a solution x*i, if an objective function is changed to improve it, at least
another one is made worst.
For the non-optimal solutions the value of at least one objective function fl can be
reduced without increasing the vaues of the other functions.
The impossibility to optimize at the same time all of the objective functions is a
characteristic of the multi-objective problems (MOP).
M. Guagliano – Multiobjective optimization
Optimal design – general method
Summary
The Pareto front (set) is the set of the optimal solutions, that is the front of the
“not dominated” solutions, where it is not possible to decrease the value of an
objective function without increasing at least one of the other objective functions.
The problem of the research of the optimum design can be faced, from a
computational point of view, by using different optimization algorithms both
evolutionary, based on genetic routines and neural networks, and more
traditional deterministic algorithms.
A popular method to find the set of the optimal Pareto optimized solutions is
the method of the weighted sum. By minimizing the weighted sum of the
objective functions with different weight factors, different points on the
Pareto sets can be generated
(the objective functions are normalized, the weights are between 0 and 1)
By changing the weights, different points of the optimal Pareto sets are
systematically generated..
The weights are not directly related to the importance of the objective
functions but allow us to localize some points of the optimal Pareto set.
The problem is reduced to a standard non linear problem and the Pareto set
is obtained by varying the constraint levels εi, i= 2, 3…nof.
This makes of sure the existence of the solution for the constrained
problem. If the problem is solved for every possible value of εi and the
resulting solutions are unique, these solutions form the Pareto optimal set.
Otherwise the points of the set must be selected by direct comparison.
M. Guagliano – Multiobjective optimization
Optimal design – general method
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