Browsing by Author "Azad, Saeid Kazemzadeh"
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Article Citation Count: 92Adaptive dimensional search: A new metaheuristic algorithm for discrete truss sizing optimization(Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, 2015) Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Azad, Saeid Kazemzadeh; Department of Civil EngineeringIn the present study a new metaheuristic algorithm called adaptive dimensional search (ADS) is proposed for discrete truss sizing optimization problems. The robustness of the ADS lies in the idea of updating search dimensionality ratio (SDR) parameter online during the search for a rapid and reliable convergence towards the optimum. In addition, several alternative stagnation-control strategies are integrated with the algorithm to escape from local optima, in which a limited uphill (non-improving) move is permitted when a stagnation state is detected in the course of optimization. Besides a remarkable computational efficiency, the ease of implementation and capability of locating promising solutions for challenging instances of practical design optimization are amongst the remarkable features of the proposed algorithm. The efficiency of the ADS is investigated and verified using two benchmark examples as well as three real-world problems of discrete sizing truss optimization. A comparison of the numerical results obtained using the ADS with those of other metaheuristic techniques indicates that the proposed algorithm is capable of locating improved solutions using much lesser computational effort. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Article Citation Count: 10Automated selection of optimal material for pressurized multi-layer composite tubes based on an evolutionary approach(Springer London Ltd, 2018) Akış, Tolga; Akis, Tolga; Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Civil Engineering; Department of Civil EngineeringDecision making on the configuration of material layers as well as thickness of each layer in composite assemblies has long been recognized as an optimization problem. Today, on the one hand, abundance of industrial alloys with different material properties and costs facilitates fabrication of more economical or light weight assemblies. On the other hand, in the design stage, availability of different alternative materials apparently increases the complexity of the design optimization problem and arises the need for efficient optimization techniques. In the present study, the well-known big bang-big crunch optimization algorithm is reformulated for optimum design of internally pressurized tightly fitted multi-layer composite tubes with axially constrained ends. An automated material selection and thickness optimization approach is employed for both weight and cost minimization of one-, two-, and three-layer tubes, and the obtained results are compared. The numerical results indicate the efficiency of the proposed approach in practical optimum design of multi-layer composite tubes under internal pressure and quantify the optimality of different composite assemblies compared to one-layer tubes.Article Citation Count: 0Cost Efficient Design of Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls Using Adaptive Dimensional Search Algorithm(Turkish Chamber Civil Engineers, 2020) Akış, Ebru; Azad, Saeid Kazemzadeh; Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Civil Engineering; Department of Civil EngineeringMechanically stabilized earth walls are among the most commonly used soil-retaining structural systems in the construction industry. This study addresses the optimum design problem of mechanically stabilized earth walls using a recently developed metaheuristic optimization algorithm, namely adaptive dimensional search. For a cost efficient design, different types of steel reinforcement as well as reinforced backfill soil are treated as discrete design variables. The performance of the adaptive dimensional search algorithm is investigated through cost optimization instances of mechanically stabilized earth walls under realistic design criteria specified by standard design codes. The numerical results demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the adaptive dimensional search algorithm in minimum cost design of mechanically stabilized earth walls and further highlight the usefulness of design optimization in engineering practice.Article Citation Count: 16Design optimization of real-size steel frames using monitored convergence curve(Springer, 2021) Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Department of Civil EngineeringIt is an undeniable fact that there are main challenges in the use of metaheuristics for optimal design of real-size steel frames in practice. In general, steel frame optimization problems usually require an inordinate amount of processing time where the main portion of computational effort is devoted to myriad structural response computations during the optimization iterations. Moreover, the inherent complexity of steel frame optimization problems may result in poor performance of even contemporary or advanced metaheuristics. Beside the challenging nature of such problems, significant difference in geometrical properties of two adjacent steel sections in a list of available profiles can also mislead the optimization algorithm and may result in trapping the algorithm in a poor local optimum. Consequently, akin to other challenging engineering optimization instances, significant fluctuations could be observed in the final results of steel frame optimization problems over multiple runs even using contemporary metaheuristics. Accordingly, the main focus of this study is to improve the solution quality as well as the stability of results in metaheuristic optimization of real-size steel frames using a recently developed framework so-called monitored convergence curve (MCC). Two enhanced variants of the well-known big bang-big crunch algorithm are adopted as typical contemporary metaheuristic algorithms to evaluate the usefulness of the MCC framework in steel frame optimization problems. The numerical experiments using challenging test examples of real-size steel frames confirm the efficiency of the MCC integrated metaheuristics versus their standard counterparts.Article Citation Count: 13Discrete Sizing of Steel Frames Using Adaptive Dimensional Search Algorithm(Budapest Univ Technology Economics, 2019) Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Azad, Saeid Kazemzadeh; Department of Civil EngineeringAdaptive dimensional search (ADS) algorithm is a recently proposed metaheuristic optimization technique for discrete structural optimization problems. In this study, discrete sizing optimization problem of steel frames is tackled using the ADS algorithm. An important feature of the algorithm is that it does not use any metaphor as an underlying principle for its implementation. Instead, the algorithm employs an efficient performance-oriented methodology at each iteration for convergence to the optimum or a near optimum solution. The performance of the ADS is investigated through optimum design of five real-size steel frame structures and the results are compared versus several contemporary metaheuristic techniques. The comparison of the obtained numerical results with those of available designs in the literature reveals the reliability and efficiency of the ADS in optimum design of steel frames.Article Citation Count: 5e-constraint guided stochastic search with successive seeding for multi-objective optimization of large-scale steel double-layer grids(Elsevier, 2022) Aminbakhsh, Saman; Aminbakhsh, Saman; Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Civil Engineering; Department of Civil EngineeringThis paper proposes a design-driven structural optimization algorithm named e-constraint guided stochastic search (e-GSS) for multi-objective design optimization of large-scale steel double-layer grids having numerous discrete design variables. Based on the well-known e-constraint method, first, the multi-objective optimization problem is transformed into a set of single-objective optimization problems. Next, each single-objective optimization problem is tackled using an enhanced reformulation of the standard guided stochastic search algorithm proposed based on a stochastic maximum incremental/decremental step size approach. Moreover, a successive seeding strategy is employed in conjunction with the proposed e-GSS algorithm to improve its performance in multi-objective optimization of large-scale steel double-layer grids. The numerical results obtained through multi-objective optimization of three challenging test examples, namely a 1728-member double-layer compound barrel vault, a 2304-member double-layer scallop dome, and a 2400-member double-layer multi-radial dome, demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed e-GSS algorithm in generating Pareto fronts of the foregoing multi-objective structural optimization problems with up to 2400 distinct sizing variables.Article Citation Count: 40Enhanced hybrid metaheuristic algorithms for optimal sizing of steel truss structures with numerous discrete variables(Springer, 2017) Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Department of Civil EngineeringThe advent of modern computing technologies paved the way for development of numerous efficient structural design optimization tools in the recent decades. In the present study sizing optimization problem of steel truss structures having numerous discrete variables is tackled using combined forms of recently proposed metaheuristic techniques. Three guided, and three guided hybrid metaheuristic algorithms are developed by integrating a design oriented strategy to the stochastic search properties of three recently proposed metaheuristic optimization techniques, namely adaptive dimensional search, modified big bang-big crunch, and exponential big bang-big crunch algorithms. The performances of the proposed guided, and guided hybrid metaheuristic algorithms are compared to those of standard variants through optimum design of real-size steel truss structures with up to 728 design variables according to AISC-LRFD specification. The numerical results reveal that the hybrid form of adaptive dimensional search and exponential big bang-big crunch algorithm is the most promising algorithm amongst the other investigated techniques.Article Citation Count: 18High-dimensional optimization of large-scale steel truss structures using guided stochastic search(Elsevier Science inc, 2021) Aminbakhsh, Saman; Aminbakhsh, Saman; Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Civil Engineering; Department of Civil EngineeringDespite a plethora of truss optimization algorithms devised in the recent literature of structural optimization, still high-dimensional large-scale truss optimization problems have not been properly tackled basically due to the excessive computational effort required to handle the foregoing instances. In this study, application of a recently developed design-driven heuristic, namely guided stochastic search (GSS), is extended to a more challenging class of truss optimization problems having thousands of design variables. Two variants of the algorithm, namely GSSA and GSSB, have been employed for sizing optimization of four high-dimensional examples of steel trusses, i.e., a 2075-member single-layer onion dome, a 2688-member double-layer open dome, a 6000-member doublelayer scallop dome, and a 15048-member double-layer grid as per AISC-LRFD specification. The numerical results obtained indicate the efficiency of GSSA and GSSB in handling high-dimensional instances of large-scale steel trusses with up to 15048 discrete design variables.Article Citation Count: 1Metaheuristic Optimization of Rotating Multilayer Composite Tubes Under Internal Heating and Pressure(Springer, 2022) Akış, Tolga; Akis, Tolga; Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Civil Engineering; Department of Civil EngineeringAlthough analysis/design of multilayer assemblies has been always an active field of research, works on the optimal design of rotating multilayer composite tubes are very limited. This paper addresses the design optimization of rotating multilayer composite tubes under internal heating and pressure. For determining the structural responses, analytical solutions are provided based on different boundary conditions. The automated selection of optimal material as well as thickness optimization of pressurized multilayer assemblies is carried out under different angular speed and internal heating conditions using a metaheuristic algorithm. The corresponding optimum design for each angular speed as well as internal heating condition is sought, and the numerical results are discussed. The study provides general guidelines for conceptual design of rotating multilayer composite tubes subjected to internal heating and pressure.Article Citation Count: 25Monitored convergence curve: a new framework for metaheuristic structural optimization algorithms(Springer, 2019) Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Department of Civil EngineeringMetaheuristic optimization algorithms, by nature, depend on random processes, and therefore, performing numerous algorithm runs is inevitable to locate a reasonably good solution. Although executing the algorithms for small-size or trivial structural optimization problems could be computationally affordable, when dealing with challenging optimization problems, there is almost no chance of performing numerous independent runs of metaheuristics in a timely manner. This difficulty is basically due to the limitations in computational technologies as well as the excessive computational cost of such problems. In such cases that the number of independent runs is limited to a small number, each optimization run becomes highly valuable and, therefore, the stability of results becomes much more significant. In the present study, it is attempted to monitor the convergence curve of each succeeding run of the algorithm with respect to the information obtained in the previous runs. An easy-to-implement yet efficient framework is proposed for metaheuristic structural optimization algorithms where every succeeding run is monitored at certain intervals named as solution monitoring period. The solution monitoring period is selected such that, at each run, on the one hand, the algorithm could explore the search space to improve the solution quality, and on the other hand, the algorithm is occasionally forced to return to the previously visited more promising solutions if it is not able to improve the solution after a certain number of iterations. The numerical experiments using challenging test instances with up to 354 design variables indicate that, in general, the proposed approach helps to improve the solution quality as well as the robustness or stability of results in metaheuristic structural optimization.Article Citation Count: 9Multi-stage guided stochastic search for optimization and standardization of free-form steel double-layer grids(Elsevier Science inc, 2021) Aminbakhsh, Saman; Aminbakhsh, Saman; Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Civil Engineering; Department of Civil EngineeringThere has been a growing interest in the use of free-form structures with irregularly curved yet aesthetically pleasing configurations in the recent decades. Although design optimization of regular steel grids has been well addressed in the literature of structural optimization, still limited work has been devoted to optimum design of real-size free-form grid structures. On the one hand, a main obstacle when dealing with real-size free-form steel grids is the excessive computational effort associated with contemporary evolutionary optimization algorithms. On the other hand, it is generally perceived that the obtained final designs using conventional optimization algorithms may not necessarily be favored in practice if certain provisions are not stipulated by the algorithm to preclude an abundance of distinct steel section sizes in the final design. Hence, instead of offering a single optimum or near optimum design, it would be more desirable to provide the designer or decision maker with a Pareto front set of non-dominated design alternatives taking into account both the minimum weight as well as the assortment of available steel section sizes in the final design. Accordingly, in this paper, a computationally efficient multi-stage guided stochastic search algorithm is proposed for optimization and standardization of realsize free-form steel double-layer grids. A gradual design-oriented section elimination approach is followed where in the first optimization stage, a complete set of commercially available steel sections is introduced to the algorithm and in the succeeding stages, the size of section list is reduced by eliminating the redundant sizes. Two variants of the algorithm are employed to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed technique in challenging test examples of free-form steel double-layer grids, and the obtained Pareto fronts are plotted to illustrate the trade-off between minimum weight and assortment of steel section sizes in the final design.Article Citation Count: 21Optimum design of steel braced frames considering dynamic soil-structure interaction(Springer, 2019) Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Azad, Saeid Kazemzadeh; Department of Civil EngineeringRecent studies on design optimization of steel frames considering soil-structure interaction have focused on static loading scenarios, and limited work has been conducted to address the design optimization under dynamic soil-structure interaction. In the present work, first, a platform is developed to perform optimization of steel frames under seismic loading considering dynamic soil-structure interaction (SSI) in order to quantify the effects of earthquake records on the optimum design. Next, verification of the adopted modeling technique is conducted using comparison of the results with the reference solution counterparts in frequency domain. For time history analyses, records from past events are selected and scaled to a target spectrum using simple scaling approach as well as spectrum matching technique. For sizing of the steel frames, a recently developed metaheuristic optimization algorithm, namely exponential big bang-big crunch optimization method, is employed. To alleviate the computational burden of the optimization process, the metaheuristic algorithm is integrated with the so-called upper bound strategy. Effects of factors such as the building height, presence of soil domain, and the utilized ground motion scaling technique are investigated and discussed. The numerical results obtained based on 5- and 10-story steel braced frame dual systems reveal that, although dynamic SSI reduced the seismic demands to some extent, given the final design pertains to different load combinations, the optimum weight difference is not considerable.Article Citation Count: 53Seeding the initial population with feasible solutions in metaheuristic optimization of steel trusses(Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2018) Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Department of Civil EngineeringIn spite of considerable research work on the development of efficient algorithms for discrete sizing optimization of steel truss structures, only a few studies have addressed non-algorithmic issues affecting the general performance of algorithms. For instance, an important question is whether starting the design optimization from a feasible solution is fruitful or not. This study is an attempt to investigate the effect of seeding the initial population with feasible solutions on the general performance of metaheuristic techniques. To this end, the sensitivity of recently proposed metaheuristic algorithms to the feasibility of initial candidate designs is evaluated through practical discrete sizing of real-size steel truss structures. The numerical experiments indicate that seeding the initial population with feasible solutions can improve the computational efficiency of metaheuristic structural optimization algorithms, especially in the early stages of the optimization. This paves the way for efficient metaheuristic optimization of large-scale structural systems.Article Citation Count: 1A standard benchmarking suite for structural optimization algorithms: ISCSO 2016-2022(Elsevier Science inc, 2023) Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Azad, Sina Kazemzadeh; Department of Civil EngineeringBenchmarking is an essential part of developing efficient structural optimization techniques. Despite the advent of numerous metaheuristic techniques for solving truss optimization problems, benchmarking new algorithms is often carried out using a selection of classic test examples which are indeed unchallenging for contemporary sophisticated optimization algorithms. Furthermore, the limited optimization results available in the literature on new test examples are usually not accurately comparable. This is typically due to the lack of infromation about the performance of the investigated algorithms and the inconsistencies between the studies in terms of adopted test examples for benchmarking, optimization problem formulation, maximum number of objective function evaluations and other similar issues. Accordingly, there exists a need for developing new standard test suites composed of easily reproducible challenging test examples with rigorous and comparable performance evaluation results of algorithms on these test suites. To this end, the present work aims to propose a new baseline for benchmarking structural optimization algorithms, using a set of challenging sizing and shape optimization problems of truss structures selected from the international student competition in structural optimization (ISCSO) instances. The most recent six structural optimization examples from the ISCSO are tackled using a representative metaheuristic structural optimization algorithm. The statistical results of all the optimization runs using the proposed benchmarking suite are provided to pave the way for more rigorous benchmarking of structural optimization algorithms.Article Citation Count: 2Structural Design Optimization of Multi-layer Spherical Pressure Vessels: A Metaheuristic Approach(Springer, 2019) Akış, Tolga; Azad, Saeid Kazemzadeh; Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Civil Engineering; Department of Civil EngineeringThis study addresses the optimum design problem of multi-layer spherical pressure vessels based on von Mises yield criterion. In order to compute the structural responses under internal pressure, analytical solutions for one-, two-, and three-layer spherical pressure vessels are provided. A population-based metaheuristic algorithm is reformulated for optimum material selection as well as thickness optimization of multi-layer spherical pressure vessels. Furthermore, in order to enhance the computational efficiency of the optimization algorithm, upper bound strategy is also integrated with the algorithm for reducing the total number of structural response evaluations during the optimization iterations. The performance of the algorithm is investigated through weight and cost minimization of one-, two- and three-layer spherical pressure vessels and the results are presented in detail. The obtained numerical results, based on different internal pressures as well as vessel sizes, indicate the usefulness and efficiency of the employed methodology in optimum design of multi-layer spherical pressure vessels.Article Citation Count: 3A Study of Shrink-Fitting for Optimal Design of Multi-Layer Composite Tubes Subjected to Internal and External Pressure(Springer, 2019) Akış, Tolga; Akis, Tolga; Azad, Saeıd Kazemzadeh; Civil Engineering; Department of Civil EngineeringThis paper addresses the effect of shrink-fitting on the optimal design of pressurized multi-layer composite tubes. Analytical solutions for structural response calculations are provided for axially constrained two- and three-layer shrink-fitted tubes under both internal and external pressure. A recently developed numerical evolutionary optimization algorithm is employed for weight and cost minimization of these assemblies. In order to investigate the effect of shrink-fitting, first, optimal material selection and thickness optimization of tightly fitted tubes, under either internal or both internal and external pressure, are accomplished without shrink-fitting. Next, under the same loading and boundary conditions the assemblies are optimized where shrink-fitting parameters are taken into account for weight and cost minimization. The numerical results obtained for multi-layer composite tubes with and without shrink-fitting indicate that more economical or lightweight assemblies can be obtained if shrink-fitting parameters are treated as additional design variables of the optimization problem. Furthermore, it is observed that considering the shrink-fitting parameters for optimal design becomes more advantageous in the test cases with a higher ratio of internal pressure to external pressure.