Optimization of a composite laminated structure by network-based genetic algorithm

Genetic algorithm (GA), compared to the gradient-based optimization, has advantages of convergence to a global optimized solution. The genetic algorithm requires so many number of analyses that may cause high computational cost for genetic search. This paper proposes a personal computer network programming based on TCP/IP protocol and client-server model using socket, to improve processing speed of the genetic algorithm for optimization of composite laminated structures. By distributed processing for the generated population, improvement in processing speed has been obtained. Consequently, usage of network-based genetic algorithm with the faster network communication speed will be a very valuable tool for the discrete optimization of large scale and complex structures requiring high computational cost.