A comparison between optimisation algorithms for metal forming processes

Coupling optimisation algorithms to Finite Element (FEM) simulations is a very promising way to achieve optimal metal forming processes. However, many optimisation algorithms exist and it is not clear which of these algorithms to use. This paper compares an efficient Metamodel Assisted Evolutionary Strategy (MAES), three variants of a Sequential Approximate Optimisation (SAO) algorithm, and two iterative algorithms (BFGS and SCPIP). They are compared to each other and to reference situations by application to two forging examples. It is concluded that bothMAES and SAO outperform the iterative algorithms. Moreover, they yield significant improvements with respect to the reference situations, which makes them both very interesting algorithms for optimising metal forming processes