Research Initiation: Hybrid Optimizers for Topological and Multidisciplinary Decision Making in Engineering Design

在工程设计过程中，与系统拓扑有关的决策通常基于直觉和经验。一旦选择了拓扑，系统的维度变量就会根据所选的拓扑进行调整和优化。然而，这可能不是最好的解决方案，因为其他竞争的拓扑已经基于直觉被拒绝了。本研究计划将拓扑决策纳入设计优化的框架。这将通过使用0-1个设计变量来表示拓扑决策，包括在可选设计之间进行选择来实现。另一个相关的问题，将在本研究中解决的是在设计过程中多学科考虑的支持。这将通过在问题表述中使用多个目标函数来完成。这项研究将提供一种设计工具，可用于(i)生成和评估备选设计概念的可行性和相对优点，（ii）帮助为有前途的概念开发详细的最佳设计，以及（iii）将为开发更好的计算机辅助设计工具和优化方法提供动力，以帮助支持初步和详细设计活动。

In the engineering design process, the decisions pertaining to the topology of the system are in general, based on intuition and experience. Once the topology has been selected, the dimensional variables of the system are sized and optimized for the selected topology. This, however, may not provide the best solution since other competing topologies have already been rejected based on intuition. This research plans to incorporate topological decisions in the framework of design optimization. This will be done by using 0-1 design variables to represent topological decisions involving a choice between alternative designs. Another related problem which will be addressed in this research deals with the support of multidisciplinary considerations in the design process. This will be accomplished through a use of multiple objective functions in the problem formulation. This research will furnish a design tool which can be utilized to (i) generate and evaluate the feasibility and relative merit of alternative design concepts, (ii) help develop detailed optimum designs for promising concepts, and (iii) will provide an impetus for the development of better computer-aided design tools and optimization methodologies to help support preliminary and detailed design activities.