Robust MDSDO for Co-Design of Stochastic Dynamic Systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeed Azad ◽  
Michael J. Alexander-Ramos

Abstract Optimization of dynamic engineering systems generally requires problem formulations that account for the coupling between embodiment design and control system design simultaneously. Such formulations are commonly known as combined optimal design and control (co-design) problems, and their application to deterministic systems is well established in the literature through a variety of methods. However, an issue that has not been addressed in the co-design literature is the impact of the inherent uncertainties within a dynamic system on its integrated design solution. Accounting for these uncertainties transforms the standard, deterministic co-design problem into a stochastic one, thus requiring appropriate stochastic optimization approaches for its solution. This paper serves as the starting point for research on stochastic co-design problems by proposing and solving a novel problem formulation based on robust design optimization (RDO) principles. Specifically, a co-design method known as multidisciplinary dynamic system design optimization (MDSDO) is used as the basis for an RDO problem formulation and implementation. The robust objective and inequality constraints are computed per usual as functions of their first-order-approximated means and variances, whereas analysis-based equality constraints are evaluated deterministically at the means of the random decision variables. The proposed stochastic co-design problem formulation is then implemented for two case studies, with the results indicating the importance of the robust approach on the integrated design solutions and performance measures.

Author(s):  
Saeed Azad ◽  
Michael J. Alexander-Ramos

Optimization of dynamic engineering systems generally requires problem formulations that account for the coupling between embodiment design and control system design simultaneously. Such formulations are commonly known as combined optimal design and control (co-design) problems, and their application to deterministic systems is well-established in the literature through a variety of methods. However, an issue that has not been addressed in the co-design literature is the impact of the inherent uncertainties within a dynamic system on its integrated design solution. Accounting for these uncertainties transforms the standard, deterministic co-design problem into a stochastic one, thus requiring appropriate stochastic optimization approaches for its solution. This paper serves as the starting point for research on stochastic co-design problems by proposing and solving a novel problem formulation based on robust design optimization (RDO) principles. Specifically, a co-design method known as multidisciplinary dynamic system design optimization (MDSDO) is used as the basis for a RDO problem formulation and implementation. The robust objective and inequality constraints are computed per usual as functions of their first-order-approximated means and variances, whereas analysis-based equality constraints are evaluated deterministically at the means of the random decision variables. The proposed stochastic co-design problem formulation is then implemented for two case studies, with the results indicating a significant impact of the robust approach on the integrated design solutions and performance measures.


Author(s):  
Saeed Azad ◽  
Michael J. Alexander-Ramos

Abstract Optimization of dynamic engineering systems requires an integrated approach that accounts for the coupling between embodiment design and control system design, simultaneously. Generally known as combined design and control (co-design) optimization, these methods offer superior system performance and reduced costs. Despite the widespread use of co-design approaches in the literature, not much work has been done to address the issue of uncertainty in co-design problem formulations. This is problematic as all engineering models contain some level of uncertainty that might negatively affect the systems performance, if overlooked. While in our previous study we developed a robust co-design approach, a more rigorous evaluation of probabilistic constraints is required to obtain the targeted reliability levels for probabilistic constraints. Therefore, we propose and implement a novel stochastic co-design approach based on the principles of reliability-based design optimization (RBDO). In particular, a reliability-based, multidisciplinary dynamic system design optimization (RB-MDSDO) formulation is developed using the sequential optimization and reliability assessment (SORA) algorithm, such that the dynamic equality constraints are satisfied at the mean values of random variables, as well as their most probable points (MPPs). The proposed approach is then implemented for two case studies to indicate the impact of including reliability measures in co-design formulations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeed Azad ◽  
Michael J. Alexander-Ramos

Abstract Optimization of dynamic engineering systems requires an integrated approach that accounts for the coupling between embodiment design and control system design, simultaneously. Generally known as combined design and control optimization (co-design), these methods offer superior system’s performance and reduced costs. Despite the widespread use of co-design approaches in the literature, not much work has been done to address the issue of uncertainty in co-design problem formulations. This is problematic as all engineering models contain some level of uncertainty that might negatively affect the system’s performance, if overlooked. While in our previous study we developed a robust co-design approach, a more rigorous evaluation of probabilistic constraints is required to obtain the targeted reliability levels for probabilistic constraints. Therefore, we propose and implement a novel stochastic co-design approach based on the principles of reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) to explicitly account for uncertainties from design decision variables and problem parameters. In particular, a reliability-based, multidisciplinary dynamic system design optimization (RB-MDSDO) formulation is developed using the sequential optimization and reliability assessment (SORA) algorithm, such that the analysis-type dynamic equality constraints are satisfied at the mean values of random variables, as well as their most probable points (MPPs). The proposed approach is then implemented for two case studies, and the results were benchmarked through Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) to indicate the impact of including reliability measures in co-design formulations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tonghui Cui ◽  
James T. Allison ◽  
Pingfeng Wang

Abstract While integrated physical and control system co-design has been demonstrated successfully on several engineering system design applications, it has been primarily applied in a deterministic manner without considering uncertainties. An opportunity exists to study non-deterministic co-design strategies, taking into account various uncertainties in an integrated co-design framework. Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) is one such method that can be used to ensure an optimized system design being obtained that satisfies all reliability constraints considering particular system uncertainties. While significant advancements have been made in co-design and RBDO separately, little is known about methods where reliability-based dynamic system design and control design optimization are considered jointly. In this article, a comparative study of the formulations and algorithms for reliability-based co-design is conducted, where the co-design problem is integrated with the RBDO framework to yield solutions consisting of an optimal system design and the corresponding control trajectory that satisfy all reliability constraints in the presence of parameter uncertainties. The presented study aims to lay the groundwork for the reliability-based co-design problem by providing a comparison of potential design formulations and problem–solving strategies. Specific problem formulations and probability analysis algorithms are compared using two numerical examples. In addition, the practical efficacy of the reliability-based co-design methodology is demonstrated via a horizontal-axis wind turbine structure and control design problem.


2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1538-1546
Author(s):  
高仁璟 GAO Ren-jing ◽  
张莹 ZHANG Ying ◽  
吴书豪 WU Shu-hao ◽  
刘书田 LIU Shu-tian

Author(s):  
Xueguan Song ◽  
Tianci Zhang ◽  
Yongliang Yuan ◽  
Xiaobang Wang ◽  
Wei Sun

Large cable shovel is a complex mechatronic system used for primary production in the open pit mine. For such structure-control highly coupled system, the conventional sequential design strategy (structure design followed by the control optimization in sequence) cannot manage this interaction adequately and explicitly. In addition, the large cable shovel consists of large number of sub-systems and/or disciplines, which also poses challenges to the global optimal design for large cable shovel. To enhance large cable shovel’s performance, an integrated design optimization strategy combining the structure-control simultaneous design (co-design) and the multidisciplinary design optimization is established in this study to perform the global optimization for the large cable shovel. In this proposed multidisciplinary co-design, the point-to-point trajectory planning method is extended to achieve the simultaneous optimization of the structure and control system. Besides the structure and control, the dynamics/vibration and energy consumption are taken into account in this multidisciplinary co-design. The objectives are to minimize the energy consumption per volume of ore and to minimize the excavating time. By comparing the multidisciplinary co-design and the conventional sequential design, it is found that the multidisciplinary co-design can not only make large cable shovel’s structure more compact with relatively small vibration, but also generate more flexible control speeds by making the best of the power motors.


Author(s):  
Matthew Woodruff ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson

Problem discovery is messy. It involves many mistakes, which may be regarded as a failure to address a design problem correctly. Mistakes, however, are inevitable, and misunderstanding the problems we are working on is the natural, default state of affairs. Only through engaging in a series of mistakes can we learn important things about our design problems. This study provides a case study in Many-Objective Visual Analytics (MOVA), as applied to the problem of problem discovery. It demonstrates the process of continually correcting and improving a problem formulation while visualizing its optimization results. This process produces a new, clearer understanding of the problem and puts the designer in a position to proceed with more-detailed design decisions.


Author(s):  
G. Gary Wang ◽  
S. Shan

Computation-intensive design problems are becoming increasingly common in manufacturing industries. The computation burden is often caused by expensive analysis and simulation processes in order to reach a comparable level of accuracy as physical testing data. To address such a challenge, approximation or metamodeling techniques are often used. Metamodeling techniques have been developed from many different disciplines including statistics, mathematics, computer science, and various engineering disciplines. These metamodels are initially developed as “surrogates” of the expensive simulation process in order to improve the overall computation efficiency. They are then found to be a valuable tool to support a wide scope of activities in modern engineering design, especially design optimization. This work reviews the state-of-the-art metamodel-based techniques from a practitioner’s perspective according to the role of metamodeling in supporting design optimization, including model approximation, design space exploration, problem formulation, and solving various types of optimization problems. Challenges and future development of metamodeling in support of engineering design is also analyzed and discussed.


Author(s):  
James T. Allison ◽  
Sam Nazari

An often cited motivation for using decomposition-based optimization methods to solve engineering system design problems is the ability to apply discipline-specific optimization techniques. For example, structural optimization methods have been employed within a more general system design optimization framework. We propose an extension of this principle to a new domain: control design. The simultaneous design of a physical system and its controller is addressed here using a decomposition-based approach. An optimization subproblem is defined for both the physical system (i.e., plant) design and the control system design. The plant subproblem is solved using a general optimization algorithm, while the controls subproblem is solved using a new approach based on optimal control theory. The optimal control solution, which is derived using the the Minimum Principle of Pontryagin (PMP), accounts for coupling between plant and controller design by managing additional variables and penalty terms required for system coordination. Augmented Lagrangian Coordination is used to solve the system design problem, and is demonstrated using a circuit design problem.


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