A specification language for problem partitioning in decomposition-based design optimization

• Published in: Structural and multidisciplinary optimization Vol. 42; no. 5; pp. 707 - 723
• Main Authors: Tosserams, S., Hofkamp, A. T., Etman, L. F. P., Rooda, J. E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.11.2010; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Chassis; Computational Mathematics and Numerical Analysis; Coordination; Decomposition; Design optimization; Engineering; Engineering Design; Graph representations; Graphical representations; Partitioning; Research Paper; Specification and description languages; Specifications; Systems design; Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Specification language; Distributed optimization; Ψ language; Decomposition; Distributed analysis; Implementation; Problem partitioning; Multidisciplinary design optimization
• ISSN: 1615-147X; 1615-1488
• DOI: 10.1007/s00158-010-0512-z

Decomposition-based design optimization consists of two steps: partitioning of a system design problem into a number of subproblems, and coordination of the design of the decomposed system. Although several generic frameworks for coordination method implementation are available (the second step), generic approaches for specification of the partitioned problem (the first step) are rare. Available specification methods are often based on matrix or graph representations of the entire system. For larger systems these representations become intractable due to the large number of design variables and functions. This article presents a new linguistic approach for specification of partitioned problems in decomposition-based design optimization. With the elements of the proposed specification language, called Ψ (the Greek letter “Psi”), a designer can define subproblems, and assemble these into larger systems in a bottom-up fashion. The assembly process allows the system designer to control the complexity and tractability of the problem partitioning task. To facilitate coupling to generic coordination frameworks, a compiler has been developed for Ψ that generates an interchange file in the INI format. This INI-definition of the partitioned problem can easily be interpreted by programs written in other languages. The flexibility provided by the Ψ language and the automated generation of input files for computational frameworks is demonstrated on a vehicle chassis design problem. The developed tools, including user manuals and examples, are made publicly available.