Search results for "Mathematical optimization"
showing 10 items of 1300 documents
Optimal Design of Trusses According to a Plastic Shakedown Criterion
2004
The optimal design of elastic-perfectly plastic truss structures subjected to quasi-statically loads variable within a given load domain is studied. The actions are given as the combination of fixed load and perfect cyclic load. Suitably chosen load multipliers are given. A minimum volume formulation of the design problem with assigned limit load multiplier is developed and it is provided on the grounds of a statical approach as well as of a kinematical approach. The incremental collapse (ratchetting) of the optimal structure is prevented, as long as the loads are not greater than some prescribed values, by special constraints suitably introduced in the search problem. The Kuhn-Tucker equat…
A design algorithm for the optimization of laminated composite structures
1999
This paper is devoted to the optimal design of laminated composite structures. The goal of the study is to assess the quality and the performance of an algorithm based on the directional derivative method. Particular attention is paid to the one‐dimensional search, a critical step of the process, performed by cubic splines approximation. The optimization problem is formulated as weight minimization, under constraints on the mechanical behavior of the structure. The assumed design variables are the ply thicknesses, treated as continuous design variables, constrained by technological requirements. The structural analysis is performed making use of quadrilateral four‐node composite elements, b…
Optimization of continuous elastic perfectly plastic beams
2004
Abstract The optimal design of elastic plastic beams subjected to loads quasi-statically variable within a given domain is studied. A minimum volume formulation and a maximum load multiplier formulation are developed, both expressed on the grounds of a statical as well as of a kinematical approach. The search problems are formulated according to three different limiting criteria acting simultaneously. For each criterion a corresponding selected safety factor is imposed. The Euler–Lagrange equations related to the above described problems are deduced. A special iterative technique devoted to the solution of the above referenced problems is proposed. Some numerical examples conclude the paper.
Multiobjective optimization of an ultrasonic transducer using NIMBUS
2005
The optimal design of an ultrasonic transducer is a multiobjective optimization problem since the final outcome needs to satisfy several conflicting criteria. Simulation tools are often used to avoid expensive and time-consuming experiments, but even simulations may be inefficient and lead to inadequate results if they are based only on trial and error. In this work, the interactive multiobjective optimization method NIMBUS is applied in designing a high-power ultrasonic transducer. The performance of the transducer is simulated with a finite element model, and three design goals are formulated as objective functions to be minimized. To find an appropriate compromise solution, additional pr…
Thermal buckling optimization of composite laminates by evolution strategies
2000
Abstract Thermal buckling optimization of laminated composite plates subject to a temperature rise is presented in this paper. Aerospace structures require such components that are able to withstand the external environment loads without loss of stability. The discrete optimal design problem, formulated under strain and ply contiguity constraints is solved using evolution strategies, a guided random-search method. Two different constraint handling methods are investigated and compared: the disregarding infeasible solutions and the classical penalty function approach. The results are also compared with an exact enumerative study conducted on the problem, showing the effectiveness and perform…
Design of concave and convex paired sloped drip laterals
2017
Abstract Properly designed microirrigation plants allow water use efficiency to be optimized and quite high values of emission uniformity to be obtained in the field. Disposing paired laterals so that two distribution pipes extend in opposite directions from a common manifold contributes to provide more uniform pressure to all laterals in thesystem. Towards this end, an analytical procedure to optimize the uniform pressure when designing paired drip laterals on uniform slopes has recently been proposed, based on the assumption that the variations of the emitters’ flow rate along the lateral and the local losses due to the emitters’ insertions could be neglected. More recently, an easy metho…
Multi-objective discrete optimization of laminated structures
2002
Abstract The paper is dedicated to the multi-objective optimal design of laminated composite structures. In order to provide sound-engineering designs, a few alternative and/or conflicting objectives must be taken into account. It is reasonable to consider the multi-objective optimization as a sensible enrichment with respect to single objective optimization, since the solutions are enforced to result optimal at the same time with respect to different objectives. Multi-objective optimization methods gained in the last years a growing interest in engineering, due to the possibility to determine a design possessing at the same time optimality with respect to different conflicting requirements…
A double-shell design approach for multiobjective optimal design of microgrids
2010
This work develops a new double shell approach to optimal design for multi-objective optimally managed systems. The cost of each design solution can be defined by the evaluation of operational issues and capital costs. In most systems, the correct definition of operational issues can be deduced by means of the solution of a multi-objective optimization problem. The evaluation of each design solution must thus be deduced using the outcome of a multi-objective optimization run, namely a Pareto hyper-surface in the n-dimensional space of operational objectives. In the literature, the design problem is usually solved by considering a single objective formulation of the operational issue. In thi…
Comparison between Entropy and Resilience as Indirect Measures of Reliability in the Framework of Water Distribution Network Design
2014
Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate which between the entropy and resilience indices represents a better indirect measure of reliability in the framework of water distribution network design. The methodology adopted consisted of (a) multi-objective optimizations performed in order to minimize costs and maximize reliability, expressed by means of one of the indirect indices at time; (b) retrospective performance assessment of the solutions of Pareto fronts obtained. Two case studies of different topological complexity were considered. Results showed that indices based on energetic concepts (resilience and modified resilience) represent a better compact estimate of reliability th…
Energy Management Systems and tertiary regulation in hierarchical control architectures for islanded microgrids
2015
In this paper, the structure of the highest level of a hierarchical control architecture for micro-grids is proposed. Such structure includes two sub-levels: the Energy Management System, EMS, and the tertiary regulation. The first devoted to energy resources allocation in each time slot based on marginal production costs, the latter aiming at finding the match between production and consumption satisfying the constraints set by the EMS level about the energy production in each time slot. Neglecting the efficiency of the different energy generation systems as well as that of the infrastructure for electrical energy distribution, the problem dealt with by the EMS sub-level is linear and can …