A discrete post-processing method for structural optimization

Abstract

This paper introduces a discrete variable post-processing method for structural design optimization. The motivation behind the method is to find a good discrete solution at manageable cost while the traditional discrete optimization algorithms are regarded as impractical for large-scale structural design problems. In this paper, the Design of Experiments (DOE) and Conservative Discrete Design (CDD) approaches have been proposed to deal with discrete variables with limited computational cost. Both methods work on the explicit approximate discreteproblem to explore the discrete design. These two approaches, together with engineering rounded-off methods, can be used to process discrete variables at any specified continuous design optimization cycle for structural design problems. Brief background and a theoretical discussion about these approaches are given in this paper. Finally, the methods that have been implemented in MSC.Nastran are demonstrated by academic and real engineering examples.