A Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm for Minimizing Weight of the Composite Box structure

The particle swarm optimization was applied to the optimum design of the composite box structure. The total weight of the structure was taken as the objective function. A technique of applying PSO integrated with general finite element code was developed for the optimization. Optimization was also conducted using zero-order method included in ANSYS and a comparison was made between zero-order method and PSO. Results demonstrate that PSO can find the global optimal design with higher efficiency regardless of the initial designs. for zero-order method the optimum solution is worst than the result of the PSO optimum.