Performance evaluation of a two stage adaptive genetic algorithm (TSAGA) in structural topology optimization

Genetic algorithm with island and adaptive features has been used for reaching the global optimal solution in the context of structural topology optimization. A two stage adaptive genetic algorithm (TSAGA) involving a self-adaptive island genetic algorithm (SAIGA) for the first stage and adaptive techniques in the second stage is proposed for the use in bit-array represented topology optimization. The first stage, consisting a number of island runs each starting with a different set of random population and searching for better designs in different peaks, helps the algorithm in performing an extensive global search. After the completion of island runs the initial population for the second stage is formed from the best members of each island that provides greater variety and potential for faster improvement and is run for a predefined number of generations. In this second stage the genetic parameters and operators are dynamically adapted with the progress of optimization process in such a way as to increase the convergence rate while maintaining the diversity in population. The results obtained on several single and multiple loading case problems have been compared with other GA and non-GA-based approaches, and the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed methodology in reaching the global optimal solution is demonstrated.