Optimal Design of Discrete Structure with Directed Mutation Genetic Algorithms

One of the most important practical considerations in the optimization of discrete structures is that the structural members are generally to be selected from available profiles list. Genetic algorithm shows certain advantages over other classical optimization procedures in structural optimization of discrete variables. In this paper we introduce the idea of directed mutation into the simple genetic algorithms field and present an active evolution on the new research achievements in the genetics and biology evolutionism fields. Directed mutation is applied to the optimal individuals in each generation to improve the search efficiency. A growing operator is added to the evolution course to improve the search efficiency. Application and experience on plane and space truss structures are discussed. The results of comparative studies of this method against other optimization algorithms for a class of representative structural design problems are reported to show the efficiency of the former. It is observed that this method often finds the region of the search space containing the global optimum