TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION OF SPACE STRUCTURES USING ANT COLONY METHOD

In this article, the ant colony method is utilized for topology optimization of space structures. Strain energy of the structure is minimized while the material volume is limited to a certain amount. In other words, the stiffest possible structure is sought when certain given materials are used. In addition, a noise cleaning technique is addressed to prevent undesirable members in optimum topology. The performance of the method for topology optimization of space structures are demonstrated by three numerical examples.

[1]  Thomas Stützle,et al.  Improvements on the Ant-System: Introducing the MAX-MIN Ant System , 1997, ICANNGA.

[2]  G. I. N. Rozvany,et al.  Layout and Generalized Shape Optimization by Iterative COC Methods , 1993 .

[3]  Claude Fleury,et al.  CONLIN: An efficient dual optimizer based on convex approximation concepts , 1989 .

[4]  M. Bendsøe,et al.  Topology Optimization: "Theory, Methods, And Applications" , 2011 .

[5]  Luca Maria Gambardella,et al.  Ant Algorithms for Discrete Optimization , 1999, Artificial Life.

[6]  Yi Min Xie,et al.  Evolutionary Structural Optimization , 1997 .

[7]  M. Bendsøe,et al.  Generating optimal topologies in structural design using a homogenization method , 1988 .

[8]  K. Svanberg.  The method of moving asymptotes—a new method for structural optimization , 1987 .

[9]  J. Petersson,et al.  Numerical instabilities in topology optimization: A survey on procedures dealing with checkerboards, mesh-dependencies and local minima , 1998 .

[10]  Saeed Shojaee,et al.  Optimal design of skeletal structures using ant colony optimization , 2007 .

[11]  Marco Dorigo,et al.  Optimization, Learning and Natural Algorithms , 1992 .

[12]  بهروز حسنی,et al.  Homogenization and Structural Topology Optimization, Theory, Practice and Software , 1999 .

[13]  Saeed Shojaee,et al.  Structural topology optimization using ant colony methodology , 2008 .

[14]  William A. Crossley,et al.  Using a Genetic Algorithm to design beam cross-sectional topology for bending, torsion, and combined loading , 2000 .

[15]  George I. N. Rozvany,et al.  Structural Design via Optimality Criteria , 1989 .

[16]  L. Escudero.  An inexact algorithm for the sequential ordering problem , 1988 .

[17]  George I. N. Rozvany,et al.  Layout Optimization of Structures , 1995 .

[18]  B. Bullnheimer,et al.  A NEW RANK BASED VERSION OF THE ANT SYSTEM: A COMPUTATIONAL STUDY , 1997 .

[19]  Behrooz Hassani,et al.  Homogenization and Structural Topology Optimization , 1999 .

[20]  Marco Dorigo,et al.  Distributed Optimization by Ant Colonies , 1992 .

[21]  Y. Xie,et al.  A simple evolutionary procedure for structural optimization , 1993 .

[22]  A. Michell.  LVIII. The limits of economy of material in frame-structures , 1904 .

[23]  M. Jakiela,et al.  Continuum structural topology design with genetic algorithms , 2000 .