Intro.

To Aerospace
Eng. Design

• Design modeling Part II

outline

• Local minima and maxima

• Minimize cost of a can
• General optimization problem
• Optimization using a spreadsheet
• Optimization using MATLAB

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Design optimization

• Detailed design work often involves finding the best possible

or optimal combination of design parameters. This requires
measurable or quantifiable design objective(s).

March 8, 2019 | 3
Design optimization

• Detailed design work often involves finding the best possible

or optimal combination of design parameters. This requires
measurable or quantifiable design objective(s).
• Before committing to a design optimization, it is important to
establish a good starting point. The initial sizing of parts and
components must be done first as part of a preliminary design.

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Design optimization

• Detailed design work often involves finding the best possible

or optimal combination of design parameters. This requires
measurable or quantifiable design objective(s).
• Before committing to a design optimization, it is important to
establish a good starting point. The initial sizing of parts and
components must be done first as part of a preliminary design.
• There may exist many local optimal solutions within a design
space, but often we wish to locate a global optimum.

March 8, 2019 | 5
Design optimization

• Detailed design work often involves finding the best possible

or optimal combination of design parameters. This requires
measurable or quantifiable design objective(s).
• Before committing to a design optimization, it is important to
establish a good starting point. The initial sizing of parts and
components must be done first as part of a preliminary design.
• There may exist many local optimal solutions within a design
space, but often we wish to locate a global optimum.
• Optimizing a design without sufficient modeling detail may be
a fruitless task.

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Design optimization

Common optimization goals:

• Designing the strongest component.
• Designing the lightest component.
• Designing the cheapest component.
• Designing the most efficient component.

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Design examples

• Lightest rod under a specific axial load with a prescribed

axial displacement.
P  m
  E   E ; and m   AL  A 
A L L
P L  1 PL2
E m
m L E 


• Lightest rod that can withstand a specific axial load.

P m
   ultimate    ultimate ; and m   AL  A 
A L
P L 1 XT
 X  PL 
T

m m 

8
 Comparing FRPs with metals

Material Density Modulus Specific Stiffness, Tensile Specific Tensile

(g/cm3) (GPa) E/ρ (Mm2/s2) Strength (GPa) Strength, σ/ρ (km)
Aluminum 2.7 73 27 0.62 230
Titanium 4.7 115 24 1.9 404
Steel 7.8 207 27 4.1 526
Graphite/Epoxy 1.6 181 113 1.5 938
Kevlar/Epoxy 1.5 76 51 1.4 933

9
 Comparing FRPs with metals

Material Density Modulus Specific Stiffness, Tensile Specific Tensile

(g/cm3) (GPa) E/ρ (Mm2/s2) Strength (GPa) Strength, σ/ρ (km)
Aluminum 2.7 73 27 0.62 230
Titanium 4.7 115 24 1.9 404
Steel 7.8 207 27 4.1 526
Graphite/Epoxy 1.6 181 113 1.5 938
Kevlar/Epoxy 1.5 76 51 1.4 933

10
 Comparing FRPs with metals

Material Density Modulus Specific Stiffness, Tensile Specific Tensile

(g/cm3) (GPa) E/ρ (Mm2/s2) Strength (GPa) Strength, σ/ρ (km)
Aluminum 2.7 73 27 0.62 230
Titanium 4.7 115 24 1.9 404
Steel 7.8 207 27 4.1 526
Graphite/Epoxy 1.6 181 113 1.5 938
Kevlar/Epoxy 1.5 76 51 1.4 933

11
Design optimization

Common optimization goals:

• Designing the strongest component.
• Designing the lightest component.
• Designing the cheapest component.
• Designing the most efficient component.

Note that the above can be combined. All relate to finding a

global minimum or maximum.

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Local minima and maxima

• You should be familiar with the methods used to determine

local minima or maxima. For function f(x), minima and
maxima can be determined by:

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Example

Consider the example of minimizing the surface area A of a

cylindrical can of a given volume:

Let’s assume minimizing the surface area of the can will

minimize the material costs.

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Example (Cont.)

• We can eliminate h in favor of constant volume V

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Example (Cont.)

• We can locate the local minima and maxima of volume A with

respect to r, assuming r > 0 and constant V.

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Example (Cont.)

• We can locate the local minima and maxima of volume A with

respect to r, assuming r > 0 and constant V.

• A local minimum exists when V = 2πr3 or h=2r. Based upon

the most economical surface area, a height equal to diameter is
best.

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Question

• Why do beverage cans come in sizes where height is greater

than the diameter?

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Question

• Why do beverage cans come in sizes where height is greater

than the diameter?
• The cost of manufacturing a can is not simply a function of
surface area. The ends and sides cost different amounts to
make. For example, if the ends can sides cost Cend and Cside per
unit area, then the total cost C is:

• Cost is minimized when

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General optimization problem

• Optimization problems can typically be written as

minimization problems, often subjected to constraints.

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General optimization problem

• Optimization problems can typically be written as

minimization problems, often subjected to constraints.

• Note that we must check the extremes x=a and x=b for local
minima. Equality h(x) and inequality g(x) constraints may be
systems of equations.

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Example

• Locate the local minima and global minimum for the

following function:

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Example

• Locate the local minima and global minimum for the

following function:

• We note that:
• Setting f’(x)=0 we find a local maximum at x = π/2.
• There are no local minima within the bounds of x.
• At the extremes we find f(π/4)=0.707 and f(5π/8)=0.924.
• The global minimum for this problem occurs at x=π/4.

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A simple optimization problem.
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Global optimization techniques

• Gradient-based methods
• Optimality criterion
• Topology optimization
• Direct search method
• Multi-level optimization
• Hybrid methods

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Optimization using a spreadsheet

• For simple optimization problems (one objective function of

one or two design parameters), a spreadsheet can be used to
perform an optimization subject to constraints by searching the
design space.

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Optimization using a spreadsheet-procedure

1. Identify the objective function (output).

2. Determine the design parameters which are inputs.
3. Establish the limits on the inputs.
4. Populate a table using linearly spaced values of the outputs.
5. Flag values that violate constraints.

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Spreadsheet for optimization of can area for a
given volume

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Revised spreadsheet for optimization of a can

March 8, 2019 | 29
March 8, 2019 | 30
Minimization with MATLAB

• There are a number of minimization functions within the

MATLAB optimization toolbox. To minimize a single-variable
function on a fixed interval, try fminbnd

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Minimization with MATLAB

• There are a number of minimization functions within the

MATLAB optimization toolbox. To minimize a single-variable
function on a fixed interval, try fminbnd

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• We can perform a similar optimization by minimizing the cost
of a can, where the ends of the can cost 1.92 times the cost of
the sides.

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• We can perform a similar optimization by minimizing the cost
of a can, where the ends of the can cost 1.92 times the cost of
the sides.

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• Another more powerful MATLAB function is fmincon. This
function can be used to find the minimum of a constrained
non-linear multivariable function.

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• Another more powerful MATLAB function is fmincon. This
function can be used to find the minimum of a constrained
non-linear multivariable function.

• where x, b, lb, and ub can all be vectors. A and Aeq are

matrices and c(x) and ceq(x) are functions that can return
vectors.
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• The fmincon function can be called in a number of ways;
however, passing all of the previous parameters is done using

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• The fmincon function can be called in a number of ways;
however, passing all of the previous parameters is done using

• fun is the objective function to be minimized.

• nonlcon is the non-linear constraints function.
• x0 is an initial guess or starting point of x.

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Example

• Consider the optimization of a clamped cantilevered beam

with a vertical load P and rectangular cross-section (b×h).
• Assume our objective is to minimize the mass of the beam by
adjusting the cross-section dimensions while satisfying
constraints on the maximum stress and maximum deflection.

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Example

• Consider the optimization of a clamped cantilevered beam

with a vertical load P and rectangular cross-section (b×h).
• Assume our objective is to minimize the mass of the beam by
adjusting the cross-section dimensions while satisfying
constraints on the maximum stress and maximum deflection.
• For this problem, our objective function is an estimate of the
beam mass. Our input variables are b and h while our
constraints are that σ ≤ σmax and w ≤ wmax

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Example (Cont.)

• The maximum deflection occurs at the tip where

• where L is the length of the beam, E is Young’s modulus, and I

is the moment of inertia of the beam.

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Example (Cont.)

• The maximum deflection occurs at the tip where

• where L is the length of the beam, E is Young’s modulus, and I

is the moment of inertia of the beam.
• The largest stress in the beam occurs as tension or
compression along the top and bottom faces of the beam

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Example (Cont.)

• We can estimate the mass of the beam if we know the physical

material property, density

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Example (Cont.)

• We can estimate the mass of the beam if we know the physical

material property, density

• This can be implemented in MATLAB as

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Example (Cont.)

• We can define MATLAB functions to determine the largest

stress and deflection:

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Example (Cont.)

• We can now define our objective function:

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Example (Cont.)

• Only c(x) nonlinear inequality constraint is required for the

constraint function:

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Example (Cont.)

• We should set lower (and upper bounds) on our parameters b

and h otherwise minimization of mass will drive b0.
• We also require an initial guess for the vector of design
parameters, x

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• Local minimum found that satisfies the constraints.
• Optimization completed because the objection function is non-
decr feasible directions, to within the default value of the
function t and constraints are satisfied to within the default
value if the c
<stopping criteria details>
Active inequalities (to within options. TolCon = 1e-6):
Lower upper ineqlin ineqnonlin
1 1

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