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An automated design scheme: Weight minimization of a single hulled ship compartment
Author(s) -
Chowdhury M.,
Caldwell J. B.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
international journal for numerical methods in engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.421
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1097-0207
pISSN - 0029-5981
DOI - 10.1002/nme.1620201002
Subject(s) - convergence (economics) , scheme (mathematics) , mathematical optimization , mathematics , finite element method , minification , nonlinear system , nonlinear programming , degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry) , linear programming , algorithm , structural engineering , engineering , mathematical analysis , physics , quantum mechanics , economics , economic growth
This paper describes the stages of development of an optimum structural design scheme. Any attempt to generate the optimum scantlings of a structure of even moderate complexity usually poses nonlinear programming problems for which there exist no universally accepted solution method. The structure considered here is a complete compartment of a single‐hulled ship acted upon by multiple load cases. The elastic responses under four different load types are obtained by a quasi finite element analysis routine developed specifically for this purpose. Sequential linear programming (SLP) with appropriate artifices to achieve rapid convergence has been successfully employed as an optimization routine to minimize the object function, which in this case was the total weight of the major structural members. The test problem has 490 basic degrees‐of‐freedom, 21 free design variables and more than 100 mixed constraints, the majority of which are nonlinear implicit stress functions. The method is then applied to a number of cases representative of small warship designs. Suggestions for future extensions and general conclusions are included at the end of the paper.