An Approach towards the Incorporation of Soft Aspects Such as Manufacturing Efforts into Structural Design Optimization

This paper introduces an efficient holistic approach to the design optimization of lightweight structures of braided fiber-reinforced plastic material. The approach aims to mitigate the paradox of making design decisions at early development phases, when necessary information is incomplete or lacking detail so as to properly make these decisions. However, expert knowledge is available and though it is imprecise in nature, it can compensate to create useful models. Manufacturing effort for the braiding process has been described by information accumulated via interviews with braiding experts. This information is then modelled using the soft-computing approach by fuzzy-rule-based systems. The resulting models can further be efficiently integrated into the structural design optimization process. A multidisciplinary design optimization is facilitated considering several aspects including manufacturing effort and structural mechanics, which can be used in early design phases leading to more holistic designing and, thereby, unlocking lightweight and cost-reducing potentials. Benefits of this method, including viability and ease of implementation, are proven by investigations on two academic test problems before advancing to the challenging automotive engineering design problem of the roadster A-pillar.

Structural Design Optimization of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine for Seismic Qualification and Lightweight

Recently, there is a growing interest in seismic qualification of ridges, buildings and mechanical equipment worldwide due to increase of accidents caused by earthquake. Severe earthquake can bring serious problems in the wind turbines and eventually lead to an interruption to their electric power supply. To overcome and prevent these undesirable problems, structural design optimization of a small vertical axis wind turbine has performed, in this study, for seismic qualification and lightweight by using a Genetic Algorithm (GA) subject to some design constraints such as the maximum stress limit, maximum deformation limit, and seismic acceleration gain limit. Also, the structural design optimizations were conducted for the four different initial design variable sets to confirm robustness of the optimization algorithm used. As a result, all the optimization results for the 4 different initial designs showed good agreement with each other properly. Thus the structural design optimization of a small vertical-axis wind turbine could be successfully accomplished.

Recent developments in the structural design and optimization of ITER neutral beam manifold

This paper describes a new design of the neutral beam manifold based on a more optimized support system.A proposed alternative scheme has presented to replace the former complex manifold supports and internal pipe supports in the final design phase.Both the structural reliability and feasibility were confirmed with detailed analyses.Comparative analyses between two typical types of manifold support scheme were performed.All relevant results of mechanical analyses for typical operation scenarios and fault conditions are presented.Future optimization activities are described,which will give useful information for a refined setting of components in the next phase.

Structural optimization design of semi-rigid base asphalt pavement using modulus matching criterion and multi-indicator range analysis

Damage to semi-rigid base asphalt pavement is related to improper matching of the pavement structure moduli.This study mainly focused on the modulus matching of structural layers and the development of a pavement structure optimization method.First,the modulus loss of existing pavement structures was analysed,and a three-dimensional finite element model was established based on the existing pavement.Second,the influence of the modulus of each structural layer on the mechanical response indicators and fatigue life was analysed.Based on the results,a pavement structure design method using the smoothness of the stress-strain curve as the modulus matching criterion of the structural layers was proposed.And it was found that a strain convex point was present and that the stress mutation between the structural layers was significant when the modulus matching of the pavement structure was reasonable.Further,the evaluation indicators were divided into two groups,namely,mechanical indicators and fatigue life indicators.And it was proposed an optimized pavement structure design method based on modulus matching and multi-indicator range analysis.Finally,the optimal modulus combination of pavement structure was determined by this method.The research systematically studied the influence of the modulus of each structural layer on the mechanical response and fatigue life of the pavement,and proposed the concept and specific executive criteria of modulus matching for the first time.Meanwhile,it also provided an effective optimization method for pavement structure design.

Multi-population particle swarm optimization algorithm for automatic design of steel frames

Steel structures are widely used;however,their traditional design method is a trial-and-error procedure which is neither efficient nor cost effective.Therefore,a multi-population particle swarm optimization(MPPSO)algorithm is developed to optimize the weight of steel frames according to standard design codes.Modifications are made to improve the algorithm performances including the constraint-based strategy,piecewise mean learning strategy and multi-population cooperative strategy.The proposed method is tested against the representative frame taken from American standards and against other steel frames matching Chinese design codes.The related parameter influences on optimization results are discussed.For the representative frame,MPPSO can achieve greater efficiency through reduction of the number of analyses by more than 65% and can obtain frame with the weight for at least 2.4%lighter.A similar trend can also be observed in cases subjected to Chinese design codes.In addition,a migration interval of 1 and the number of populations as 5 are recommended to obtain better MPPSO results.The purpose of the study is to propose a method with high efficiency and robustness that is not confined to structural scales and design codes.It aims to provide a reference for automatic structural optimization design problems even with dimensional complexity.The proposed method can be easily generalized to the optimization problem of other structural systems.

An Optimized Structure Design of the HT-7U Vacuum Vessel

The vacuum vessel of the HT-7U superconducting tokamak will be a fully-welded structure with a double-wall. The space between the double-wall will be filled with borated water for neutron shielding. Non-circular cross-section is designed for plasma elongating. Horizontal and vertical ports are designed for diagnosing, vacuum pumping, plasma heating and plasma current driving, etc. The vacuum vessel consists of 16 segments. It will be baked out at 250℃ to obtain a clean wall. When the machine is in operation, both the hot wall (the wall temperature is around 100℃) and the cold wall (wall temperature is in normal equilibrium) are considered. The stress caused by thermal deformation and the electromagnetic (EM) loads caused by 1.5 MA plasma disruption in 3.5 T magnetic field have to be taken into account in the design of the HT-7U vacuum vessel Finite element method was employed for structure analysis of the vacuum vessel.

DYNAMIC OPTIMIZATION OF THERMAL STRUCTURE

he temperature distnbution on the surface of a flight vehicle and the va-riation of the modulus of elasticity with respect to temperature are considered. The minimum weight structural design with constraints on frequency, on the coordinates ofmodal nodes and on the upper and lower bounds of the design vanables are studied us-ing Kuhn-Tucker conditions as optimal cntenon. The vanation of the flrst three ordernatural frequencies, modal shapes and minimum structural weight vs temperature gra-dient are discussed. It is pointed out that it is imperative to take into account the effectof aerodynamic heating on structural dynamic optimization. Calculation example showsthat the method obtained is feasible and efficient.

Forming-Precision-Driven Structure Design of Hydraulic Press: Methodology and Case Study

The structure stiffness of presses has great effects on the forming precision of workpieces, especially in near-net or net shape forming. Conventionally the stiffness specification of presses is empirically determined, resulting in poor designs with insufficient or over sufficient stiffness of press structures. In this paper, an approach for the structure design of hydraulic presses is proposed, which is forming-precision-driven and can make presses costeffective by lightweight optimization. The approach consists of five steps:(1)the determination of the press stiffness specification in terms of the forming precision requirement of workpieces;(2)the conceptual design of the press structures according to the stiffness and workspace specifications, and the structure configuration of the press;(3)the prototype design of the press structures by equivalently converting the conceptual design to prototypes;(4)the selection of key structure parameters by sensitivity analysis of the prototype design; and(5)the optimization of the prototype design. The approach is demonstrated and validated through a case study of the structure design of a 100 MN hydraulic press.

Multi-Stage Improvement of Marine Predators Algorithm and Its Application

The metaheuristic algorithms are widely used in solving the parameters of the optimization problem.The marine predators algorithm(MPA)is a novel population-based intelligent algorithm.Although MPA has shown a talented foraging strategy,it still needs a balance of exploration and exploitation.Therefore,a multi-stage improvement of marine predators algorithm(MSMPA)is proposed in this paper.The algorithm retains the advantage of multistage search and introduces a linear flight strategy in the middle stage to enhance the interaction between predators.Predators further away from the historical optimum are required to move,increasing the exploration capability of the algorithm.In the middle and late stages,the searchmechanism of particle swarmoptimization(PSO)is inserted,which enhances the exploitation capability of the algorithm.This means that the stochasticity is decreased,that is the optimal region where predators jumping out is effectively stifled.At the same time,self-adjusting weight is used to regulate the convergence speed of the algorithm,which can balance the exploration and exploitation capability of the algorithm.The algorithm is applied to different types of CEC2017 benchmark test functions and threemultidimensional nonlinear structure design optimization problems,compared with other recent algorithms.The results show that the convergence speed and accuracy of MSMPA are significantly better than that of the comparison algorithms.

The Real-Time Image Processing Technique Based on DSP

This paper proposes a novel real time image processing technique based on digital singnal processor （DSP）. At the aspect of wavelet transform（WT） algorithm, the technique uses algorithm of second generation wavelet transform lifting scheme WT that has low calculation complexity property for the 2 D image data processing. Since the processing effect of lifting scheme WT for I D data is better than the effect of it for 2 D data obviously, this paper proposes a reformative processing method： Transform 2-D image data to 1 D data sequence by linearization method, then process the 1 D data sequence by algorithm of lifting scheme WT. The method changes the image convolution mode, which based on the cross filtering of rows and columns. At the aspect of hardware realization, the technique optimizes the program structure of DSP to exert the operation power with the iwchip memorizer of DSP. The experiment results show that the real time image processing techniquc proposed in this paper can meet the real-time requirement of videoimage transmitting in the video surveillance system of electric power. So the technique is a feasible and efficient DSP solution.

Optimal Structural Design of Complicated Mechanical Products Based on Data Mining

Complicated mechanical products normally consist of multi-parameter mechanisms.The couplings between two tmechanisms are either strong or weak.The traditional optimal design methods cannot meet the requirements of optimal structural design of the complicated multi-parameter mechanical products.On the basis of analyzing the optimal design methods and the data mining principles,an improved iterative dichotomizer 3(ID3) algorithm is hereby put forth to bring out an optimal design information model integrated with the data mining technology as well as an optimal structural design system of complicated mechanical products based on the data mining principles.The system is demonstrated by the optimal structural design of the mainframe of the full face rock tunnel boring machine(TBM).An example shows that the data mining technology has fully tackled the issues of the optimal structural design of complicated mechanical products.

Multi-objective robust design optimization of a novel negative Poisson's ratio bumper system

Negative Poisson's ratio(NPR) structure has outstanding performances in lightweight and energy absorption, and it can be widely applied in automotive industries. By combining the front anti-collision beam, crash box and NPR structure, a novel NPR bumper system for improving the crashworthiness is first proposed in the work. The performances of the NPR bumper system are detailed studied by comparing to traditional bumper system and aluminum foam filled bumper system. To achieve the rapid design while considering perturbation induced by parameter uncertainties, a multi-objective robust design optimization method of the NPR bumper system is also proposed. The parametric model of the bumper system is constructed by combining the full parametric model of the traditional bumper system and the parametric model of the NPR structure. Optimal Latin hypercube sampling technique and dual response surface method are combined to construct the surrogate models. The multi-objective robust optimization results of the NPR bumper system are then obtained by applying the multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm and six sigma criteria. The results yielded from the optimizations indicate that the energy absorption capacity is improved significantly by the NPR bumper system and its performances are further optimized efficiently by the multi-objective robust design optimization method.

Biological Vibration Damping Strategies and Mechanisms

Excessive vibration in civil and mechanical systems can lead to structural damage or harmful noise.Structural vibration can be mitigated by reducing the energy of the vibration source or by isolating the external disturbance from the target structure.Depending on the tunability and power consumption of the system,existing vibration control strategies are divided into active,passive and semi-active types,providing a more stable and efficient solution for vibration control.However,conventional damping structures have difficulty in meeting the requirements of wide frequency range and high precision damping under complex operating conditions.Therefore,the design of efficient damping structures is one of the key challenges in the development of vibration control technology.Organisms have evolved over millions of years to effectively damp vibrations through special structures and composite materials to ensure their survival.Opening up damping vibration isolation technology from a bionic perspective can meet the frequency requirements of vibration damping and guarantee higher output accuracy of machinery.This review summarizes the basic principles of vibration control and analyses the vibration control strategies for different damping materials and damping structures.Meanwhile,various models of bio-damped structures are outlined.Moreover,the current status and recent progress of research on bionic damped structures based on bio-vibration control strategies are discussed.Finally,new perspectives on future developments in the field of bionic damped vibration control techniques are also presented.A comprehensive understanding of existing vibration damping mechanisms and new methods of bionic damping design will certainly trigger important applications of precision vibration control in the fields of aerospace,rail transportation and mechanical systems.

Flight dynamics modeling of a small ducted fan aerial vehicle based on parameter identifcation

This paper presents a simple and useful modeling method to acquire a dynamics model of an aerial vehicle containing unknown parameters using mechanism modeling,and then to design different identifcation experiments to identify the parameters based on the sources and features of its unknown parameters.Based on the mathematical model of the aerial vehicle acquired by modeling and identifcation,a design for the structural parameters of the attitude control system is carried out,and the results of the attitude control flaps are verifed by simulation experiments and flight tests of the aerial vehicle.Results of the mathematical simulation and flight tests show that the mathematical model acquired using parameter identifcation is comparatively accurate and of clear mechanics,and can be used as the reference and basis for the structural design.