Fuzzy Design Method of Product Quality Robustness

In order to express information on the quality grade of product designed, the target value of product quality design was described with a fuzzy number in this paper. The rule of robust design with a fuzzy target was analyzed with fuzzy probability theory, then the principle and modeling method of fuzzy robust design for a high quality product were put forward. With this new method used, the high quality ratio of the product designed could be increased, and the ability to resist the influence of various disturbing factors and noise factors could be enhanced.

Reliability-based Robust Optimization Design of Automobile Components with Non-normal Distribution Parameters

In the reliability designing procedure of the vehicle components, when the distribution styles of the random variables are unknown or non-normal distribution, the result evaluated contains great error or even is wrong if the reliability value R is larger than 1 by using the existent method, in which case the formula is necessary to be revised. This is obviously inconvenient for programming. Combining reliability-based optimization theory, robust designing method and reliability based sensitivity analysis, a new method for reliability robust designing is proposed. Therefore the influence level of the designing parameters’ changing to the reliability of vehicle components can be obtained. The reliability sensitivity with respect to design parameters is viewed as a sub-objective function in the multi-objective optimization problem satisfying reliability constraints. Given the first four moments of basic random variables, a fourth-moment technique and the proposed optimization procedure can obtain reliability-based robust design of automobile components with non-normal distribution parameters accurately and quickly. By using the proposed method, the distribution style of the random parameters is relaxed. Therefore it is much closer to the actual reliability problems. The numerical examples indicate the following: (1) The reliability value obtained by the robust method proposed increases (】0.04%) comparing to the value obtained by the ordinary optimization algorithm; (2) The absolute value of reliability-based sensitivity decreases (】0.01%), and the robustness of the products’ quality is improved accordingly. Utilizing the reliability-based optimization and robust design method in the reliability designing procedure reduces the manufacture cost and provides the theoretical basis for the reliability and robust design of the vehicle components.

Robust design of natural laminar flow supercritical airfoil by multi-objective evolution method

Abstract A transonic, high Reynolds number natural laminar flow airfoil is designed and studied. The γ-θ transition model is combined with the shear stress transport （SST） k-w turbulence model to predict the transition region for a laminar-turbulent boundary layer. The non-uniform free-form deformation （NFFD） method based on the non-uniform rational B-spline （NURBS） basis function is introduced to the airfoil parameterization. The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II （NSGA-II） is used as the search algo- rithm, and the surrogate model based on the Kriging models is introduced to improve the efficiency of the optimization system. The optimization system is set up based on the above technologies, and the robust design about the uncertainty of the Mach number is carried out for NASA0412 airfoil. The optimized airfoil is analyzed and compared with the original airfoil. The results show that natural laminar flow can be achieved on a supercritical airfoil to improve the aerodynamic characteristic of airfoils.

Multi-parameter Sensitivity Analysis and Application Research in the Robust Optimization Design for Complex Nonlinear System

The current research of complex nonlinear system robust optimization mainly focuses on the features of design parameters, such as probability density functions, boundary conditions, etc. After parameters study, high-dimensional curve or robust control design is used to find an accurate robust solution. However, there may exist complex interaction between parameters and practical engineering system. With the increase of the number of parameters, it is getting hard to determine high-dimensional curves and robust control methods, thus it＇s difficult to get the robust design solutions. In this paper, a method of global sensitivity analysis based on divided variables in groups is proposed. By making relevant variables in one group and keeping each other independent among sets of variables, global sensitivity analysis is conducted in grouped variables and the importance of parameters is evaluated by calculating the contribution value of each parameter to the total variance of system response. By ranking the importance of input parameters, relatively important parameters are chosen to conduct robust design analysis of the system. By applying this method to the robust optimization design of a real complex nonlinear system-a vehicle occupant restraint system with multi-parameter, good solution is gained and the response variance of the objective function is reduced to 0.01, which indicates that the robustness of the occupant restraint system is improved in a great degree and the method is effective and valuable for the robust design of complex nonlinear system. This research proposes a new method which can be used to obtain solutions for complex nonlinear system robust design.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY ROBUST OPTIMIZATION DESIGN

Because uncertainty factors inevitably exist under multidisciplinary designenvironment, a hierarchical multidisciplinary robust optimization design based on response surfaceis proposed. The method constructs optimization model of subsystem level and system level tocoordinate the coupling among subsystems, and also the response surface based on the artificialneural network is introduced to provide information for system level optimization tool to maintainthe independence of subsystems, i.e. to realize multidisciplinary parallel design. The applicationcase of electrical packaging demonstrates that reasonable robust optimum solution can be yielded andit is a potential and efficient multi-disciplinary robust optimization approach.

Robust Trajectory and Communication Design for Angle-Constrained Multi-UAV Communications in the Presence of Jammers

This paper studies a multi-unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)enabled wireless communication system,where multiple UAVs are employed to communicate with a group of ground terminals(GTs)in the presence of potential jammers.We aim to maximize the throughput overall GTs by jointly optimizing the UAVs’trajectory,the GTs’scheduling and power allocation.Unlike most prior studies,we consider the UAVs’turning and climbing angle constraints,the UAVs’three-dimensional(3D)trajectory constraints,minimum UAV-to-UAV(U2U)distance constraint,and the GTs’transmit power requirements.However,the formulated problem is a mixed-integer non-convex problem and is intractable to work it out with conventional optimization methods.To tackle this difficulty,we propose an efficient robust iterative algorithm to decompose the original problem be three sub-problems and acquire the suboptimal solution via utilizing the block coordinate descent(BCD)method,successive convex approximation(SCA)technique,and S-procedure.Extensive simulation results show that our proposed robust iterative algorithm offers a substantial gain in the system performance compared with the benchmark algorithms.

ROBUST DESIGN OF A TWO DEGREE FREEDOM SYSTEM.DUE TO THE PARAMETER UNCERTAINTY

A method based on the robust design optimization is presented to handle the structural uncertainty problems. The variations caused in dynamic performance can be expressed by the mean response and the standard deviation of the performance. The robust optimization approach, based on a multi-objective and non-deterministic method, attempts to both optimize the mean performance and minimize the variance of the performance simultaneously. The best possible design optimization is chosen by a trade-off decision. An example of robust design of a two degree freedom system is used to effectively illustrate the application in dynamics. The mass and stiffness uncertainty in the main system as well as the uncertainty of the mass, stiffness and damping in the absorber are considered all together in order to minimize the displacement response of the main system within a wide band of excitation frequencies. The robust optimization results show a significant improvement in performance compared with the conventional solution recommended from vibration textbooks. It is indicated that robust design methods have great potential for application in structural dynamics to deal with uncertainty problems.

Robust Design Optimization Method for Centrifugal Impellers under Surface Roughness Uncertainties Due to Blade Fouling

Blade fouling has been proved to be a great threat to compressor performance in operating stage. The current researches on fouling-induced performance degradations of centrifugal compressors are based mainly on simplified roughness models without taking into account the realistic factors such as spatial non-uniformity and randomness of the fouling-induced surface roughness. Moreover, little attention has been paid to the robust design optimization of centrifugal compressor impellers with considerations of blade fouling. In this paper, a multi-objective robust design optimization method is developed for centrifugal impellers under surface roughness uncertainties due to blade fouling. A three-dimensional surface roughness map is proposed to describe the nonuniformity and randomness of realistic fouling accumulations on blades. To lower computational cost in robust design optimization, the support vector regression（SVR） metamodel is combined with the Monte Carlo simulation（MCS） method to conduct the uncertainty analysis of fouled impeller performance. The analyzed results show that the critical fouled region associated with impeller performance degradations lies at the leading edge of blade tip. The SVR metamodel has been proved to be an efficient and accurate means in the detection of impeller performance variations caused by roughness uncertainties. After design optimization, the robust optimal design is found to be more efficient and less sensitive to fouling uncertainties while maintaining good impeller performance in the clean condition. This research proposes a systematic design optimization method for centrifugal compressors with considerations of blade fouling, providing a practical guidance to the design of advanced centrifugal compressors.

Robust designs for models with possible bias and correlated errors

This paper studies the model-robust design problem for general models with an unknown bias or contamination and the correlated errors. The true response function is assumed to be from a reproducing kernel Hilbert space and the errors are fitted by the qth order moving average process MA（q）, especially the MA（1） errors and the MA（2） errors. In both situations, design criteria are derived in terms of the average expected quadratic loss for the least squares estimation by using a minimax method. A case is studied and the orthogonality of the criteria is proved for this special response. The robustness of the design criteria is discussed through several numerical examples.

CONSTRUCTION OF OPTIMAL BLOCKING SCHEMES FOR ROBUST PARAMETER DESIGNS

Robust parameter design （RPD） is an important issue in experimental designs. If all experimental runs cannot be performed under homogeneous conditions, blocking the units is effective. In this paper, we obtain the correspondence relation between fractional factorial RPDs and the blocking schemes for full factorial RPDs. In addition, we provide a construction of optimal blocking schemes that make all main effects and control-by-noise two-factor interactions estimable.

A novel robust design method for improving stability of optimized structures

It is known that structural optimization may lead to designs of structures having low stability and sometimes even kinematically unstable designs. This paper presents a robust design method for improving the stability of opti mized structures. A new approach is proposed, in which cer tain perturbation loads are introduced and the corresponding compliance is added to the objective function as a penaliza tion. The stability of the optimized structures can thus be improved substantially by considering structural responses to the original and the introduced loads. Numerical exam ples show the simplicity and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Non-probabilistic Robust Optimal Design Method

For the purpose of dealing with uncertainty factors in engineering optimization problems, this paper presents a new non-probabilistic robust optimal design method based on maximum variation estimation. The method analyzes the effect of uncertain factors to objective and constraints functions, and then the maximal variations to a solution are calculated. In order to guarantee robust feasibility the maximal variations of constraints are added to original constraints as penalty term; the maximal variation of objective function is taken as a robust index to a solution; linear physical programming is used to adjust the values of quality characteristic and quality variation, and then a bi-level mathematical robust optimal model is constructed. The method does not require presumed probability distribution of uncertain factors or continuous and differentiable of objective and constraints functions. To demonstrate the proposed method, the design of the two-bar structure acted by concentrated load is presented. In the example the robustness of the normal stress, feasibility of the total volume and the buckling stress are studied. The robust optimal design results show that in the condition of maintaining feasibility robustness, the proposed approach can obtain a robust solution which the designer is satisfied with the value of objective function and its variation.

MODELING AND ROBUST DESIGN OF REMANUFACTURING LOGISTICS NETWORKS BASED ON DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT

The uncertainty of time, quantity and quality of recycling products leads tothe bad stability and flexibility of remanufacturing logistics networks, and general design onlycovered the minimizing logistics cost, thus, robust design is presented here to solve theuncertainty. The mathematical model of remanufacturing logistics networks is built based onstochastic distribution of uncontrollable factors, and robust objectives are presented. Theintegration of mathematical simulation and design of experiment method is performed to do sensitiveanalysis. The influence of each factor and level on the system is investigated, and the main factorsand optimum combination are studied. The numbers of factors, level of each factor and designprocess of experiment are investigated as well. Finally, the process of robust design based ondesign of experiment is demonstrated by a detailed example.

Robust Design Optimization and Improvement by Metamodel

The robust design optimization(RDO)is an effective method to improve product performance with uncertainty factors.The robust optimal solution should be not only satisfied the probabilistic constraints but also less sensitive to the variation of design variables.There are some important issues in RDO,such as how to judge robustness,deal with multi-objective problem and black-box situation.In this paper,two criteria are proposed to judge the deterministic optimal solution whether satisfies robustness requirment.The robustness measure based on maximum entropy is proposed.Weighted sum method is improved to deal with the objective function,and the basic framework of metamodel assisted robust optimization is also provided for improving the efficiency.Finally,several engineering examples are used to verify the advantages.

Robust design of self-starting drains using Random Forest

Groundwater lowering is one of the most important countermeasures to avoid the risk of rainfall-triggered landslides.However,the long-term reliability of many drainage methods is often a matter of concern since the drains may easily get clogged.A new hydraulic-driven self-starting drainage method is presented in this paper.In the proposed Random Forest(RF)based robust design approach for the selfstarting drains,the datasets are generated using an automatically controlled numerical modeling technology.The deterministic analysis is carried out based on uncertain soil parameters and the specific designs selected using Uniform Design(UD).The ensemble of RF models is applied in the design process to improve computing efficiency.Safety requirements,design robustness,and cost efficiency are simultaneously considered utilizing multiobjective optimization.A straightforward and efficient framework that focuses on difficulties caused by an enormous design space is established for the robust design of the self-starting drains,and improved computation efficiency is achieved.The effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated with a case study,the Qili landslide in Zhejiang Province,China.

Integrated Robust Design Method Based on Maximum Tolerance Region

Traditionally,parameter design is carried out prior to tolerance design. However, this two-step design strategy cannot guarantee optimal robustness for products' quality. The proposed integrated robust design method determined the optimal parameter and tolerance simultaneously by calculating the maximum tolerance region,thereby improving the quality of products. In addition,the proposed method did not need uncertainty analysis to obtain the maximum tolerance region,so that the calculation cost could be decreased. And the method avoided the difficulty of gaining costtolerance function as maximum tolerance region represented both demand of cost and robust. Finally,an amplifier circuit case was conducted for verification purpose. Based on the results, the proposed approach could provide robust solution with optimal maximum tolerance region.

Randomized Algorithms for Probabilistic Optimal Robust Performance Controller Design

Polynomial-time randomized algorithms were constructed to approximately solve optimal robust performance controller design problems in probabilistic sense and the rigorous mathematical justification of the approach was given. The randomized algorithms here were based on a property from statistical learning theory known as (uniform) convergence of empirical means (UCEM). It is argued that in order to assess the performance of a controller as the plant varies over a pre-specified family, it is better to use the average performance of the controller as the objective function to be optimized, rather than its worst-case performance. The approach is illustrated to be efficient through an example.

The Method for Optimum Design of Water Rocket Flight Stability Performance Conditions Using CAE with T Method and Robust Parameter Design

A water rocket is a rocket system that obtains thrust by injecting water with compressed air of up to about 8 atmospheres. It is usually manufactured using a pressure-resistant PET bottle. The mechanical elements and principles contained in the water rocket have much in common with the actual small rocket system, and are suitable as educational and research teaching materials in the field of mechanics. Especially in the field of disaster prevention and mitigation, the use of water rockets is being researched and developed as a rescue tool in the event of a flood or earthquake as a disaster countermeasure. However, since the water rocket is a flying object based on the mechanical principle, it is important to ensure the accuracy and stability of the flight path. In this paper, a mechanical simulator is developed with a numerical calculation program based on the mechanical consideration of water rocket flight performance. In addition, the correlation between the flight distance obtained in the simulation and the estimated flight distance is analyzed by applying a multivariate analysis method and verifying the validity of the flight distance calculated from the result. Based on the verification results, we will apply a statistical optimization method to approach the optimization of flight stability performance conditions for water rockets.

Robust Multiobjective and Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of Electrical Drive Systems

Design and optimization of electrical drive systems often involve simultaneous consideration of multiple objectives that usually contradict to each other and multiple disciplines that normally coupled to each other.This paper aims to present efficient system-level multiobjective optimization methods for the multidisciplinary design optimization of electrical drive systems.From the perspective of quality control,deterministic and robust approaches will be investigated for the development of the optimization models for the proposed methods.Meanwhile,two approximation methods,Kriging model and Taylor expansion are employed to decrease the computation/simulation cost.To illustrate the advantages of the proposed methods,a drive system with a permanent magnet synchronous motor driven by a field oriented control system is investigated.Deterministic and robust Pareto optimal solutions are presented and compared in terms of several steady-state and dynamic performances(like average torque and speed overshoot)of the drive system.The robust multiobjective optimization method can produce optimal Pareto solutions with high manufacturing quality for the drive system.