An enhanced particle swarm optimization for design of pin connected structures

In this paper, a new technique in weight optimization of pin-connected structures is proposed. Using some principles of structural analysis, the concepts of similar trusses in structural analysis and optimum similar trusses in optimization of truss structures are introduced. Based on these definitions, the technique searches for one of the optimum similar trusses to map it into boundary and find the optimum truss. The technique is referred to as Searching Optimum Similar Trusses (SOST). It is general and its implementation in standard Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is developed in this article, which is called PSOST. Rapid convergence with few numbers of analyses and accurate constraint handling is achieved by the technique, and absolutely feasible solutions are obtained. Several benchmark planar and spatial truss structures have been optimized using this approach. The results show remarkable improvement both in accuracy and particularly in convergence rate of the design. (C) 2013 Sharif University of Technology. All rights reserved.