ISSN:
1615-1488
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
Notes:
Abstract The design of most engineering systems is a complex and time-consuming process. In addition, the need to optimize such systems where multidisciplinary analysis and design procedures are required can cost additional human and computational resources if proper software and numerical algorithms are not used. Several computational aspects of optimization algorithms and the associated software must be considered while making comparative studies and selecting a suitable algorithm for practical applications. Several parameters, such asaccuracy, generality, robustness, efficiency and ease of use, must be considered while deciding the superiority of an optimization approach. Approximate algorithms without sound mathematical basis can be sometimes more efficient for a specific problem, but fail to satisfy other requirements. They are, therefore, not suitable for general applications. An objective of the paper is to emphasize the critical importance of the above-mentioned parameters in large scalestructural optimization and other applications. Theoretical foundations of two promising approaches, thesequential quadratic programming (SQP) andoptimality criteria (OC), are presented and analysed. Recent numerical experiments and experiences with the SQP algorithm satisfying these requirements are described by solving a variety of structural design problems. An important conclusion of the paper is that the SQP method with a potential constraint strategy is a better choice as compared to the currently prevalent mathematical programming (MP) and OC approaches.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01748225
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