Investigation of Effectiveness of Evolutionary Structural Optimization and Simulated Annealing in Maximization of the Stiffness of Two-dimensional Structures

In many structural components, it is usually desirable to have a minimum deflection at specific points. To develop such stiff structures, different optimization methods have been employed by researchers. In this study, the Simulated Annealing (SA) method is used for maximizing the stiffness of two-dimensional structures. The effectiveness of the SA is then evaluated by comparing its results with that of the Evolutionary Structural Optimization (ESO). Three examples are presented including the square plate, the rectangular plate and the MBB beam. These examples are conducted for different loading and mesh refinement. Furthermore, to have a practical shape, the checkerboard pattern is eliminated in the optimization process. The results show that in the square plate with 3 thicknesses the solution obtained with the SA method is 7% better than the Evolutionary Structural Optimization solution. For rectangular plate, SA solution is 4% better than the ESO solution. For the MBB beam the ESO solution is about 3% better than the SA solution. However, the optimum shapes obtained from both methods are quite similar. It can be concluded that the SA is an effective method for optimizing the stiffness of 2D structures when a better accuracy is needed.