Section optimization design of discrete structure with improved genetic algorithms

The structural members are generally to be selected from available profiles list is most important practical considerations in the optimization of discrete structures. Genetic algorithms show certain advantages over other classical optimization procedures in structural optimization of discrete variables. In order to overcoming the shortcoming of simple GA, we introduce the idea of directed mutation and present an active evolution in this paper. A growing operator is added to the evolution course to improve the search efficiency. Directed mutation is applied to the optimal individuals in each generation 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.