MINLP Optimization of Mechanical Structures

Abstract

We presented optimization of mechanical structures, performed by the Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) optimization approach. The MINLP is a combined continuous/discrete optimization technique, where a structural topology and standard/discrete sizes are optimized simultaneously with the continuous variables. Ddiscrete binary 0-1 variables were used to express the discrete decisions. For solution of this non-linear, continuous/discrete and non-convex MINLP class of the optimization problem, Modified Outer-Approximation/Equality-Relaxation (OA/ER) algorithm was used. A two-phase MINLP strategy applied for the optimization to accelerate the convergence of the mentioned algorithm.