Optimal design of truss structures using water wave optimization

Abstract

Introduction: In recent years, the importance of economic considerations in the field of structures has motivated many researchers to employ new methods for minimizing the weight of the structures. The main goal of the structural optimization is to minimize the weight of structures while satisfying all design requirements imposed by design codes. Objective: In this study, the Water Wave Optimization (WWO) algorithm is implemented to solve the problem of structural optimization of 2D and 3D truss structures. Methodology: The study is composed of three main phases: 1) formulation of the structural optimization problem; 2) study of the fundamentals and parameters that control the WWO algorithm and 3) evaluate the WWO performance in optimization problems of truss structures reported in the specialized literature. Results: The values of weight, average weight, standard deviation, and the total number of analyses executed to converge to the optimum design obtained with WWO indicate that the algorithm is a good tool to minimize the weight of truss structures subject to stress and displacements constrained. Conclusions: It was observed that the WWO algorithm is effective, efficient and robust to solve different types of problems, with different numbers of elements. Furthermore, WWO requires a lower number of analyses to converge to the optimum design compared to other algorithms.

Keywords

• Water wave optimization
• structural optimization
• truss structures
• metaheuristic