Simultaneous Topology, Shape and Size Optimization of Truss Structures by Fully Stressed Design Based on Evolution Strategy

The most effective scheme of truss optimization considers the combined effect of topology, shape and size (TSS); however, most available studies on truss optimization by meta-heuristics concentrated on one or two of the above aspects. The presence of diverse design variables and constraints in TSS optimization may account for such limited applicability of meta-heuristics to this field. In this article, a recently proposed algorithm for simultaneous shape and size optimization, Fully Stressed Design based on Evolution Strategy (FSD-ES), is enhanced to handle TSS optimization problems. FSDES combines advantages of the well-known deterministic approach of Fully Stressed Design with potential global search of the state-of-the-art ES. A comparison of results demonstrates that the proposed optimizer reaches the same or similar solutions faster and/or is able to find lighter designs than those previously reported in the literature. Moreover, the proposed variant of FSD-ES requires no user-based tuning effort which is desired in a practical application. The proposed methodology is well tested on a number of problems and is now ready to be applied to more complex TSS problems.