Papers by Author: W. El Alem

Abstract: Most optimization problems, particularly those in engineering design, require the simultaneous optimization of more than one objective function. In this context, the solutions of these problems are based on the Pareto frontier construction. Substantial efforts have been made in recent years to develop methods for the construction of Pareto frontiers that guarantee uniform distribution and exclude the non-Pareto and local Pareto points. The Normal Boundary Intersection (NBI) is a recent contribution that generates a well-distributed Pareto frontier efficiently. Nevertheless, this method should be combined with a global optimization method to ensure the convergence to the global Pareto frontier. This paper proposes the NBI method using Adaptive Simulated Annealing (ASA) algorithm, namely NBI-ASA as a global nonlinear multi-objective optimization method. A well known benchmark multi-objective problem has been chosen from the literature to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method, applicability of the method for structural problems has been tested through a truss problem and promising results were obtained. The results indicate that the proposed method is a powerful search and multi-objective optimization technique that may yield better solutions to engineering problems than those obtained using current algorithms.

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to study the implementation of an efficient and reliable methodology for shape optimization problems where the objective function and constraints are not known explicitly and are dependent on the Finite Element Analysis (FEA). It is based on the Simultaneous Perturbation Stochastic Approximation (SPSA) method for solving unconstrained continuous optimization problems. We also propose Penalty SPSA (PSPSA) for solving constrained optimization problems, the constraints are handled using exterior point penalty functions within an algorithm that combines SPSA and exact penalty transformations. This paper presents a new structural optimization methodology that combines shape optimization, geometric modeling, FEA and PSPSA method to successfully optimize structural optimization problems. Several tests have been performed on some well known benchmark functions to demonstrate the robustness and high performance of the suggested methodology. In addition, an illustrative two-dimensional structural problem has been solved in a very efficient way. The numerical results demonstrate the robustness and high performance of the suggested methodology for structural optimization problems.

Abstract: In structural design optimization, numerical techniques are increasingly used. In typical structural optimization problems there may be many locally minimum configurations. For that reason, the application of a global method, which may escape from the locally minimum points, remain essential. In this paper, a new hybrid simulated annealing algorithm for global optimization with constraints is proposed. We have developed a new algorithm called Adaptive Simulated Annealing algorithm (ASA); ASA is a series of modifications done to the Basic Simulated Annealing algorithm ( BSA) that gives the region containing the global solution of an objective function. In addition, the stochastic method Simultaneous Perturbation Stochastic Approximation (SPSA), for solving unconstrained optimization problems, is used to refine the solution. We also propose Penalty SPSA (PSPSA) for solving constrained optimization problems. The constraints are handled using exterior point penalty functions. The proposed method is applicable for any problem where the topology of the structure is not fixed, it is simple and capable of handling problems subject to any number of nonlinear constraints. Extensive tests on the ASA as a global optimization method are presented, its performance as a viable optimization method is demonstrated by applying it first to a series of benchmark functions with 2 - 30 dimensions and then it is used in structural design to demonstrate its applicability and efficiency. It is found that the best results are obtained by ASA compared to those provided by the commercial software ANSYS.