Structural optimization using the cross-entropy method

Marcos Vinícius dos Santos Issa (1) , Americo Cunha Jr (1) , Francisco Soeiro (1) , Anderson Pereira (2)

1 UERJ - Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro [Brasil] = Rio de Janeiro State University [Brazil] = Université d'État de Rio de Janeiro [Brésil]
2 PUC-Rio

This work aims to evaluate the efficiency and robustness of the cross-entropy (CE) method in the context of structural optimization. A two-dimensional truss subject to vertical loads is used as a benchmark test, where one seeks to minimize the structure weight, respecting a structural integrity criterion. The optimal results obtained via CE are compared with reference solutions, obtained via sequential quadratic programming and genetic algorithm. Numerical experiments demonstrate that CE offers a solution for structural optimization that can be very competitive in terms of accuracy and computational efficiency.

Mots clés: cross-entropy method; structural optimization; nonlinear optimization

Domaines: Mécanique des structures [physics.class-ph]; Optimisation et contrôle [math.OC]; Structures; Probabilités [math.PR]; Génie mécanique [physics.class-ph]

Marcos Vinícius dos Santos Issa, Americo Cunha Jr, Francisco Soeiro, Anderson Pereira. Structural optimization using the cross-entropy method. XXXVIII Congresso Nacional de Matemática Aplicada e Computacional (CNMAC 2018), Sep 2018, Campinas, Brazil. ⟨10.5540/03.2018.006.02.0443⟩. ⟨hal-01885508⟩