• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.11
• /
• pp.3665-3674
• /
• 2021

One of the important parts of the in-core fuel management is loading pattern optimization (LPO). The loading pattern optimization as a reasonable design of the in-core fuel management can improve both economic and safe aspects of the nuclear reactor. This work proposes the hybrid of fuzzy logic controller with harmony search algorithm (HS) for loading pattern optimization in a pressurized water reactor. The music improvisation process to find a pleasing harmony is inspiring the harmony search algorithm. In this work, the adjustment of the harmony search algorithm parameters such as the bandwidth and the pitch adjustment rate are increasing performance of the proposed algorithm which is done through a fuzzy logic controller. Hence, membership functions and fuzzy rules are designed to improve the performance of the HS algorithm and achieve optimal results. The objective of the method is finding an optimum core arrangement according to safety and economic aspects such as reduction of power peaking factor (PPF) and increase of effective multiplication factor (Keff). The proposed approach effectiveness has been tried in two cases, Michalewicz's bivariate function problem and NEACRP LWR core. The results show that by using fuzzy harmony search algorithm the value of the fitness function is improved by 15.35%. Finally, with regard to the new solutions proposed in this research it could be used as a trustworthy method for other optimization issues of engineering field.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.564-582
• /
• 2015

This paper proposes a novel swarm intelligence optimization method which integrates bacterial foraging optimization (BFO) with quantum computing, called quantum bacterial foraging optimization (QBFO) algorithm. In QBFO, a multi-qubit which can represent a linear superposition of states in search space probabilistically is used to represent a bacterium, so that the quantum bacteria representation has a better characteristic of population diversity. A quantum rotation gate is designed to simulate the chemotactic step for the sake of driving the bacteria toward better solutions. Several tests are conducted based on benchmark functions including multi-peak function to evaluate optimization performance of the proposed algorithm. Numerical results show that the proposed QBFO has more powerful properties in terms of convergence rate, stability and the ability of searching for the global optimal solution than the original BFO and quantum genetic algorithm. Furthermore, we examine the employment of our proposed QBFO for cognitive radio spectrum allocation. The results indicate that the proposed QBFO based spectrum allocation scheme achieves high efficiency of spectrum usage and improves the transmission performance of secondary users, as compared to color sensitive graph coloring algorithm and quantum genetic algorithm.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.455-467
• /
• 2020

Shape design optimization for Blended-wing-body Underwater Gliders (BWBUGs) is usually computationally expensive. In our previous work, a simplified shape optimization (SSO) strategy is proposed to alleviate the computational burden, which optimizes some of the Sectional Airfoils (SAs) instead of optimizing the 3-D shape of the BWBUG directly. Test results show that SSO can obtain a good result at a much smaller computational cost when three SAs are adopted. In this paper, the performance of SSO is investigated with a different number of SAs selected from the BWBUG, and the results are compared with that of the Direct Shape Optimization (DSO) strategy. Results indicate that SSO tends to perform better with more SAs or even outperforms the DSO strategy in some cases, and the amount of saved computational cost also increases when more SAs are adopted, which provides some reference significance and enlarges the applicability range of SSO.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.247-254
• /
• 2015

Ride comfort is one of the major factors in evaluating the performance of the vehicle. Tire is closely related to the ride comfort of the vehicle as the only parts in contact with the road surface directly. Vertical stiffness which is one of the parameters to evaluate the tire performance is great influence on the ride comfort. In general, the lower the vertical stiffness, the ride comfort is improved. Research for improving the ride comfort has been mainly carried out by optimizing the shape of the pneumatic tire. However, demand for safety of the vehicle has been increased recently such as a run-flat tire which is effective in safety improvement. But a run-flat tire have trouble in practical use because of poor ride comfort than general tire. Therefore, In this paper, the research was carried out for improving the ride comfort through the optimization of the SIR shape inside a run-flat tire. Meta-model was generated by using the design of experiment and it was able to reduce the time for the finite element analysis of optimization. In addition, Shape optimization for improving the ride comfort was performed by using the genetic algorithm which is one of the global optimization techniques.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.407-417
• /
• 2003

Enen though several GA-based optimization algorithms have been successfully applied to complex optimization problems in various engineering fields, GA-based optimization methods are computationally too expensive for practical use in the field of structural optimization, particularly for large- scale problems. Furthermore, a successful implementation of GA-based optimization algorithm requires a cumbersome and trial-and-error routine related to setting of parameters dependent on a optimization problem. Therefore, to overcome these disadvantages, a high-performance GA is developed in the form of distributed hybrid genetic algorithm for structural optimization on a cluster of personal computers. The distributed hybrid genetic algorithm proposed in this paper consist of a simple GA running on a master computer and multiple μ-GAs running on slave computers. The algorithm is implemented on a PC cluster and applied to the minimum weight design of steel structures. The results show that the computational time required for structural optimization process can be drastically reduced and the dependency on the parameters can be avoided.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.501-515
• /
• 2016

Seismic analysis for steel frame structure with brace configuration using topology optimization based on truss-like material model is studied. The initial design domain for topology optimization is determined according to original steel frame structure and filled with truss-like members. Hence the initial truss-like continuum is established. The densities and orientation of truss-like members at any point are taken as design variables in finite element analysis. The topology optimization problem of least-weight truss-like continuum with stress constraints is solved. The orientations and densities of members in truss-like continuum are optimized and updated by fully-stressed criterion in every iteration. The optimized truss-like continuum is founded after finite element analysis is finished. The optimal bracing system is established based on optimized truss-like continuum without numerical instability. Seismic performance for steel frame structures is derived using dynamic time-history analysis. A numerical example shows the advantage for frame structures with brace configuration using topology optimization in seismic performance.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.77 no.3
• /
• pp.417-439
• /
• 2021

The geometric nonlinearity has been successfully integrated with the design of steel structural system. Thus, the tubular lattice girder, one application of steel structural systems have already been optimized to obtain an economic design following the completion of computationally expensive design procedure. In order to decrease its computing cost, this study proposes to employ five multi-objective metaheuristics for the design optimization of geometrically nonlinear tubular lattice girder. Then, the employed multi-objective optimization algorithms (MOAs), NSGAII, PESAII, SPEAII, AbYSS and MoCell are evaluated considering their computing performances. For an unbiased evaluation of their computing performance, a tubular lattice girder with varying size-shape-topology and a benchmark truss design with 17 members are not only optimized considering the geometrically nonlinear behavior, but three benchmark mathematical functions along with the four benchmark linear design problems are also included for the comparison purpose. The proposed experimental study is carried out by use of an intelligent optimization tool named JMetal v5.10. According to the quantitative results of employed quality indicators with respect to a statistical analysis test, MoCell is resulted with an achievement of showing better computing performance compared to other four MOAs. Consequently, MoCell is suggested as an optimization tool for the design of geometrically nonlinear tubular lattice girder than the other employed MOAs.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.109-116
• /
• 2012

There are a number of studies concentrating on drilling equipment and drilling methods, but none investigates the impact performance and optimization of DTH (down-the-hole) drilling. It is very difficult to experimentally evaluate the performance of a DTH hammer, because putting together an experimental setup for DTH drilling requires a great deal of money and time. Therefore, this paper examines the characteristics and performance of DTH hammers through pneumatic simulation after a thorough investigation of their working mechanism. In addition, the parameters linked to the performance of DTH hammers were selected using the design-of-experiment method, and then the optimization of performance factors, which are the impact rate and impact energy, was investigated using Taguchi method.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.10 no.9
• /
• pp.2179-2182
• /
• 2009

Recently, the development of new structural model in optical mechanical system is required to be started from the conceptual design with low cost, high performance and quality. In this point, a structural-topological shape of system concerned with conceptual design of mechanical structure has a great effect on performance of the system such as the structural rigidities and weight reduction. In this paper, the optimization design methodologies are presented in the design stages of large optical structure. First, using topology optimization, we obtain the optimal layout and the reinforcement of structure, and then carry out the detail designs using size optimization and multidisciplinary optimization technique. As an example, these methods were applied to the design of large mirror structure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.75 no.4
• /
• pp.445-454
• /
• 2020

Structural damage identification (SDI) is a crucial step in structural health monitoring. However, some of the existing SDI methods cannot provide enough identification accuracy and efficiency in practice. A novel whale optimization algorithm (WOA) based method is proposed for SDI by weighting modal data and flexibility assurance criterion in this study. At first, the SDI problem is mathematically converted into a constrained optimization problem. Unlike traditional objective function defined using frequencies and mode shapes, a new objective function on the SDI problem is formulated by weighting both modal data and flexibility assurance criterion. Then, the WOA method, due to its good performance of fast convergence and global searching ability, is adopted to provide an accurate solution to the SDI problem, different predator mechanisms are formulated and their probability thresholds are selected. Finally, the performance of the proposed method is assessed by numerical simulations on a simply-supported beam and a 31-bar truss structures. For the given multiple structural damage conditions under environmental noises, the WOA-based SDI method can effectively locate structural damages and accurately estimate severities of damages. Compared with other optimization methods, such as particle swarm optimization and dragonfly algorithm, the proposed WOA-based method outperforms in accuracy and efficiency, which can provide a more effective and potential tool for the SDI problem.