A Flexible Optimization Procedure for Mechanical Component Design Based on Genetic Adaptive Search

Kalyanmoy Deb and Mayank Goyal

A exible algorithm for solving nonlinear engineering design optimization problems involving zero-one, discrete, and continuous variables is presented. The algorithm restricts its search only to the permissible values of the variables, thereby reducing the search e ort in converging near the optimum solution. The e ciency and ease of application of the proposed method is demonstrated by solving four di erent mechanical design problems chosen from the optimization literature. These results are encouraging and suggest the use of the technique to other more complex engineering design problems.

Abstract

1 Introduction
In an optimal design problem, the aim is to minimize or maximize a design objective and to satisfy a set of constraints. Design (or decision) variables, in an engineering design problem, are usually zero-one, discrete or continuous type. Since most classical optimization techniques are designed to work with continuous variables, in dealing with mixed variables, they handle discrete or zero-one variables by adding arti cial constraints to penalize infeasible values of variables (Deb, 1995; Kannan and Kramer, 1993). This x-up not only increases the complexity of the underlying problem, but the algorithm also spends considerable amount of e ort in evaluating infeasible solutions. In this paper, a exible optimization algorithm based on the evolutionary search principles has been suggested to handle mixed variables. The genetic adaptive search (GeneAS) (pronounced as `genius') technique developed here is a modi ed version of genetic algorithm (GA), which works based on the principles of natural genetics (Goldberg, 1989; Holland, 1975). In the remainder of the paper, we brie y outline the working principle of GeneAS and demonstrate its power by presenting a number of case studies of mechanical component design.

2 Genetic Adaptive Search (GeneAS)

GeneAS handles mixed variables|zero-one, discrete, and continuous|by using a mixed coding scheme with a mixed crossover and a mixed mutation operator.
Mechanical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, UP 208 016, India (deb@iitk.ernet.in)

2.1 Coding
GeneAS uses a vector of mixed variables. For example, the following solution represents a complete design of a cantilever beam having four design variables: (1) 14 23:457 (101) The rst variable represents the shape of the cross-section of the cantilever beam (1: circular and 0: square). The second variable represents the diameter if the rst variable is a 1 or the side if the rst variable is a 0. This variable is discrete, since arbitrary section sizes are not usually available for fabrication. The third variable represents the length of the cantilever beam and is a continuous variable. The fourth variable is a discrete variable representing the material, which can take one of 8 pre-speci ed materials. Thus, the above vector represents a cantilever beam made of the 5-th material from a prescribed list of 8 materials having a circular cross-section with a diameter 14 mm and having a length of 23.457 mm. With the above unique exibility in design representation, any combination of cross sectional shape and size, material speci cations, and length of the cantilever beam can be represented. Since each design variable is allowed to take only permissible values (no hexagonal shape will be tried or no unavailable diameter of a circular cross-section will be chosen), the computational time for searching of the optimal problem is also substantially less.

2.2 Operators
Reproduction operator works with a solution's tness, which is related to the penalized function value of the solution (Goldberg, 1989). Crossover operator is somewhat di erent from that used in a binary-coded GA and other realcoded implementations (Eshelman and Scha er, 1993). Since di erent variables types are allowed in the coding, the crossover is performed variable-by-variable. If the variable to be crossed is a binary substring representing a discrete variable (material variable in the above example), a cross site is chosen at random along its length and bits on one side of cross site are exchanged between the two substrings. On the other hand, if the variable xi chosen to be crossed is a continuous variable (length as in the above example), two parent values (xi(1;t) and xi(2;t) ) produce two children values (xi(1;t+1) and xi(2;t+1) ) based on the following probability distribution:

C( ) =

8 < :

0:5(n + 1) n ; if 0 1; 0:5(n + 1) 1 ; if > 1;

n+2

(1)

, and n is a distribution where is a non-dimensionalized parameter de ned as = x x ?x ?x index. The above probability distribution is proven to have a search power similar to that in a crossover operator used in binary-coded GAs (Deb and Agrawal, 1995). Two children solutions are created as follows. First a random number u between 0 and 1 is chosen. Thereafter, a parameter R is calculated using 0 C ( )d = u. Two children solutions are then calculated as follows:
(1;t+1)
i

(2;t+1) (2;t)
i

(1;t)

xi(1;t+1) = 0:5 (1 ? )xi(1;t) + (1 + )xi(2;t) ; xi(2;t+1) = 0:5 (1 + )xi(1;t) + (1 ? )xi(2;t) : (2)

2

Figure 1 shows the above probability distribution with n = 2 and 5 for creating children solutions from two parent solutions (x = 5 and x = 10) in the real space. Since equation (1) is written in , for a xed value of n, close parents create near-parent solutions and distant parents create distant solutions|an essential feature of a good crossover operator for e ective schema processing (Goldberg, 1989).

Figure 1: Probability distribution for creating Figure 2: Probability distribution for creating children solutions of continuous variables children solutions of discrete variables Since binary strings of length ` represent exactly 2` solutions, binary strings may not always be e cient in representing discrete variables having arbitrary search space. For example, if the diameter (d) of the cantilever beam takes any integer value between 10 to 100 mm, a minimum of seven-bit binary string coding must be used in the range (10, 137) with 27 or 128 integer values and solutions having d > 100 mm are penalized by using an extra constraint d 100. This di culty of using an additional constraint can be eliminated by using discrete values directly with a discrete version of the probability distribution described in equation (1). If the variable x used in Figure 1 is now a discrete variable taking only values in steps of 0.5, the corresponding discrete probability distribution for n = 2 is shown in Figure 2. For mutating a discrete variable coded in a binary substring, a bit is changed from 1 to 0 or vice versa. For a continuous variable, the current value of the variable is changed to a neighboring value using a polynomial probability distribution (Agrawal, 1995). For discretely-coded variables, a neighboring feasible value is chosen with a discrete probability distribution. The purpose of mutation operator is to ne-tune a solution and these neighborhood searches help achieve that. A GeneAS iteration is similar to that in a binary-coded GA. A random set of solutions is created with the mixed coding. The population is then operated by three operators|reproduction, crossover, and mutation|to create a new set of solutions. Iterations are continued until a termination criterion is satis ed. Although the search processes in GA and GeneAS are similar to the complex evolutionary processes (Dawkins, 1986), a number of studies have been made using markov chain analysis to nd a proof of convergence for such an algorithm. An intuitive reasoning of the working of the algorithm is also well understood from schema analysis (Goldberg, 1989; Holland, 1975).

3 Mechanical Component Design

Four di erent problems are borrowed from the literature and solved using GeneAS. In all simulation runs of GeneAS, a crossover probability of 0.9 is used. To study the e ect of crossover alone, mutation is not used.

3.1 Gear train design

The objective of the gear train design is to nd the number of teeth in each of the four gears T T (x = (Td ; Tb ; Ta ; Tf )) so as to minimize the error between the obtained gear ratio ( T T ) and a required gear ratio of 1/6.931 (Kannan and Kramer, 1993). All four variables are strictly integers (12 to 60). We use two di erent coding schemes to solve the resulting NLP problem. In Case I, the variables are treated as discrete with only integer values. In Case II, each variable can be coded in six-bit binary strings, so that variables take values between 12 and 75 and four constraints (60 ? xi 0, for i = 1; 2; 3; 4) are added to penalize infeasible solutions. Table 1 shows the best solutions found in each case with a population of 50 solutions. It is clear from the table that both
d b a f

Table 1: Gear train design GeneAS, Case-I GeneAS, Case-II Aug. Lagrange Mult. Branch and Bound x (19, 16, 49, 43) (17, 14, 33, 50) (13, 15, 33, 41) (18, 22, 45, 60) Gear Ratio 0.144281 0.144242 0.144124 0.146667 Error 0.001% 0.026% 0.11% 1.65% simulations with GeneAS have found much better solutions than the previously known solutions. By explicit enumeration, it is observed that the solution obtained in Case-I is the global optimal solution.

3.2 Pressure vessel design

A cylindrical pressure vessel with two hemispherical heads is designed for minimum cost of fabrication. Four variables are identi ed: Thickness of pressure vessel Ts , thickness of head Th , inner radius of the vessel R, and the length of the vessel without the heads L. R and L are treated as continuous variables and Ts and Th are as discrete variables with a constant increment of 0.0625 inch. According to the NLP problem outlined in an earlier study (Kannan and Kramer, 1993), we use the variable vector x = (Ts ; Th ; R; L) in inches. The initial random population of 70 solutions are created in a range 0:0625 Ts ; Th 5 and 10 R; L 200. The optimized solution obtained using GeneAS is x=(0.9375, 0.5, 48.329, 112.679) with a cost of 6410.4 units, which is 11% and 21% better than those obtained using augmented Lagrange multiplier method (x=(1.125, 0.625, 58.291, 43.690) with cost 7198.2) (Kannan and Kramer, 1993) and using Branch-and-Bound method (x= (1.125, 0.625, 47.700, 117.701) with cost 8129.8) (Sandgren, 1988), respectively.

3.3 Spring design

A helical compression spring is designed for minimum volume. Three variables (x = (N; d; D)) are identi ed: The number of spring coils N (integer), the wire diameter d (a discrete variable), and the mean coil diameter D (continuous). The variable N is coded in ve-bit strings between (1, 32). The variable d is made discrete in the range 0.009 to 0.5 inch and in unequal steps as presented in Kannan and Kramer (1993). An initial population of 60 random solutions are seeded in the range 1 D 30. The solution found by GeneAS is as follows: N (01000)=9, d=0.283, D=1.226 with a volume of 2.665 units. This solution is 5% better than that obtained using the Branch-and-Bound method (x=(10, 0.283, 1.180) with volume 2.798 units) (Sandgren, 1988). The solution (x=(7, 0.283, 1.329) with volume 2.346 units) presented in Kannan and Kramer (1993) is not feasible, since it violates the stress constraint (g1 (x) = ?10; 172) and hence cannot be compared.

3.4 Welded beam design

A rectangular cantilever beam is welded with a bracket to carry a certain load, F . The objective of the design is to minimize the overall cost of the fabrication (cost of beam material and the cost of weld deposit). Two di erent welding con gurations are assumed as shown in Figure 3 (x1 0 for two-sided and 1 for four-sided welding). A two-bit string is used to code the material as

F `L

-h -b
x1
0

x1

Figure 3: Welded beam problem

x2 (00: steel, 01: cast iron, 10: aluminum, and 11: brass). Three discrete variables (in steps of 0.0625) are used to code the thickness of the weld (x3 = h), the width of the beam (x4 = t), and the thickness of the beam (x5 = b). Finally, the length of welded joint (x6 = `) is declared as a
continuous variable. A typical GeneAS solution of the above problem is shown below: 0:0625 0:{z } 0:0625 1:{z } (10) (0) 625 | {z } | 563 | {z } | | {z } t h b ` weld type material
|{z}

The NLP problem is to minimize the cost ((1 + c1 )x2 (x6 + x1 x4 ) + c2 x4 x5 (L + x6 )) subject to a 3 number of constraints: S (x), Pc F , max (x), and 0:577S (x). The stress, de ection, and buckling terms are derived elsewhere (Reklaitis et al., 1983). The parameters L = 14 inch and F = 6; 000 lb are used. The cost term and material properties used in the above formulation

are as follows:
8 < : 8 > > > > > > < > > > > > > :

A = 1:414x3 x6 and J = 1:414x3 x6 (x +x ) + x ; if x1 =0; 4 12 (x +x +x ) ; if x =1 A = 1:414x3 (x4 + x6) and J = 1:414x3 12 1 S = 30(103 ); E = 30(106 ); G = 12(106 ); c1 = 0:1047; c2 = 0:0481; S = 8(103 ); E = 14(106 ); G = 6(106 ); c1 = 0:0489; c2 = 0:0224; S = 5(103 ); E = 10(106 ); G = 4(106 ); c1 = 0:5235; c2 = 0:2405; S = 8(103 ); E = 16(106 ); G = 6(106 ); c1 = 0:5584; c2 = 0:2566;
3 4 2 3 4 6 3

2i 6

if x2 is 00 (Steel); if x2 is 01 (CI); if x2 is 10 (Al); if x2 is 11 (Brass):

An initial random population of 50 solutions are created in the range 0:0625 x3 ; x5 2 and 2 x4 ; x6 20. Using GeneAS, we nd that the optimized solution (x) is a steel beam (0:25 8:25 inch rectangular cross-section) being welded on four sides (8:25 1:6849 inch rectangle) of weld size 0.1875 inch with a cost of 1.942 units. Here, since steel has a better strength per unit cost than others, steel is the optimal material. Moreover, the above solution is near the true optimal solution, as the material is well utilized ( (x) is only 9:4(10?4 )% smaller than the allowable limit). This problem shows how easily GeneAS can handle mixed variables in an engineering design problem.

4 Conclusions
In order to handle zero-one, discrete and continuous variables often encountered in engineering design, GeneAS uses an e cient coding and a search operator that creates only feasible values of variables. This eliminates the use of any additional constraint or any other special consideration. In solving three di erent mechanical design problems, GeneAS has always outperformed the previously-known methods. GeneAS has also found a near-optimal solution in a welded-beam design problem having mixed variables. The convergence property of GeneAS can be further improved by using a hybrid technique, where a fast local search technique can be started from the best solution of GeneAS (Gage et al., 1995; Goldberg, 1989). Since crossover is performed variable-byvariable, this approach does not solve the linkage problem of binary-coded GAs (Goldberg, Korb and Deb, 1989), however, the exibility and e ciency of the GeneAS technique demonstrated here suggest its immediate application to other more complex engineering design problems.

References
Agrawal, R. B. (1995). Simulated binary crossover for real-coded genetic algorithms (Master's thesis). Kanpur: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Dawkins, R. (1986). The blind watchmaker. New York: Penguin Books. Deb, K. (1995). Optimization for engineering design: Algorithms and examples. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall. 6

Deb, K. and Agrawal, R. B. (1995). Simulated binary crossover for continuous search space. Complex Systems, 9 115{148. Eshelman, L. J. and Scha er, J. D. (1993). Real-coded genetic algorithms and interval schemata. In D. Whitley (Ed.), Foundations of Genetic Algorithms, II (pp. 187{202). Gage, P. J., Kroo, I. M. and Sobieski, I. P. (1995). Variable-Complexity genetic algorithm for topological design. AIAA Journal, 33(11), 2212{2217. Goldberg, D. E. (1989). Genetic algorithms in search, optimization, and machine learning. Reading: Addison-Wesley. Goldberg, D. E., Korb, B., and Deb, K. (1989). Messy genetic algorithms: Motivation, analysis, and rst results, Complex Systems, Vol. 3, pp. 493-530. Holland, J. H. (1975). Adaptation in Natural and Arti cial Systems. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Kannan, B. K. and Kramer, S. N. (1993). An augmented Lagrange multiplier based method for mixed integer discrete continuous optimization and its applications to mechanical design. ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, 116, 405{411. Reklaitis, G. V., Ravindran, A., and Ragsdell, K. M. (1983). Engineering Optimization|Methods and Applications. New York: Wiley. Sandgren, E. (1988). Nonlinear integer and discrete programming in mechanical design. Proceedings of the ASME Design Technology Conference, Kissimee, FL, 95{105.

Caption for Figures

Figure 1: Figure 2: Figure 3:

Probability distribution for creating children solutions of continuous variables. Probability distribution for creating children solutions of discrete variables. Welded beam problem.