Optimization of sonar transducers via evolutionary algorithms

• Published in: SN applied sciences Vol. 1; no. 12; p. 1728
• Main Authors: Karami, Farzad, Morsali, Reza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.12.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied and Technical Physics; Chemistry/Food Science; Design; Design and Manufacturing Techniques on the Engineering Applications; Design optimization; Earth Sciences; Engineering; Engineering: Effects of Advanced Materials; Environment; Evolutionary algorithms; Frequencies; Genetic algorithms; Integer programming; Materials Science; Mathematical models; Methods; Mixed integer; Objective function; Optimization algorithms; Performance enhancement; Piezoelectric actuators; Radiation; Research Article; Sound pressure; Transducers; Variables; Mathematical modeling; Sonar transducer; Genetic algorithm; Optimization; Mixed-integer optimization
• ISSN: 2523-3963; 2523-3971
• DOI: 10.1007/s42452-019-1803-7

Tonpilz acoustic transducer is a device for detecting objects under the water and measuring their properties. The Tonpilz includes a stack of piezoelectric actuators polarized across their thickness. The range of pressure level on the working frequency band and the sound pressure level at the resonance frequency are two crucial factors determining the performance of the transducer. A large number of structural and material attributes makes the design process of Tonpilz difficult. This study aims to improve the performance of a Tonpilz by using the optimization to find the globally optimum design variable set. A multi-objective function is introduced based on transducer performance measures. Furthermore, the problem of mixed-integer programming is addressed. Based on the geometrical and operational limits, a series of constraints were introduced in the optimization problem. The results show that optimizing the design variables greatly enhances performance.