COPES - A Fortran Control Program for Engineering Synthesis.

Abstract : A FORTRAN Control Program for Engineering Synthesis (COPES) has been developed for solving engineering design problems. The program maximizes or minimizes a numerically defined objective function subject to a set of inequality constraint functions. COPES uses the optimization program, CONMIN, which includes the conjugate direction method of Fletcher and Reeves for unconstrained function minimization and a modification of Zoutendijk's method of feasible directions for constrained function minimization. Additionally, approximation techniques are available for use in optimization, and trade-off studies may be performed. A simple design example demonstrates the program capabilities. Programming guidelines are presented followed by sample input data and output for each program option. (Author)