MONTE-CARLO STRUCTURAL OPTIMIZATION IN DISCRETE VARIABLES WITH ANNEALING ALGORITHM

The paper describes the basic ideas of Monte Carlo annealing algorithms for structural optimization with discrete design parameters. The algorithm generates randomly a set of design parameters, with probability depending on the objective function and given by the Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution. In this method the search for the global minimum is simulated by a relaxation process of the statistical mechanical system with the Hamiltonian proportional to the objective function. The rate of the convergence of the method and its dependence upon the annealing probability are discussed. Numerical implementation of the method for the weight optimization of the ten-bar planar cantilever truss is presented. The results of numerical simulation are compared with those obtained by the dual methods. The principal conjecture is that the method is fairly efficient and has great potential for application in engineering design.