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Materials selection for a set of multiple parts considering manufacturing costs and weight reduction with structural isoperformance using direct multisearch optimization

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Abstract

Materials selection is a matter of great importance to engineering design and software tools are valuable to inform decisions in the early stages of product development. However, when a set of alternative materials is available for the different parts a product is made of, the question of what optimal material mix to choose for a group of parts is not trivial. The engineer/designer therefore goes about this in a part-by-part procedure. Optimizing each part per se can lead to a global sub-optimal solution from the product point of view. An optimization procedure to deal with products with multiple parts, each with discrete design variables, and able to determine the optimal solution assuming different objectives is therefore needed. To solve this multiobjective optimization problem, a new routine based on Direct MultiSearch (DMS) algorithm is created. Results from the Pareto front can help the designer to align his/hers materials selection for a complete set of materials with product attribute objectives, depending on the relative importance of each objective.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thanks the financial support of FCT, Portugal, for financing the work under the MIT-Portugal Program. This work was supported by FCT, through IDMEC, under LAETA, project UID/EMS/50022/2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IDMEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1040-001, Lisboa, Portugal

    M. Leite, A. Silva, E. Henriques & J. F. A. Madeira

  2. Department of Mathematics, ISEL- Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, 1959-007, Lisboa, Portugal

    J. F. A. Madeira

Authors
  1. M. Leite
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  2. A. Silva
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  3. E. Henriques
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  4. J. F. A. Madeira
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Correspondence to M. Leite.

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Leite, M., Silva, A., Henriques, E. et al. Materials selection for a set of multiple parts considering manufacturing costs and weight reduction with structural isoperformance using direct multisearch optimization. Struct Multidisc Optim 52, 635–644 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00158-015-1247-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00158-015-1247-7

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