BSG-Starcraft Radius Improvements of Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm: An Application to Ceramic Matrix Composites

The thermal residual stresses (TRS) induced in ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) with multi-layered interphases when cooling down from the processing temperature, have a significant influence on the mechanical behavior and lifetime of CMCs. The objective of this work is to minimize the TRS of the unidirectional CMCs with multi-layered interphases by controlling the interphases thicknesses. A new Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is interfaced with a finite element code to find an optimal design and thereby significantly reduce the TRS within CMCs. This new PSO allows a faster convergence rate and gets a new effective stopping criteria based on real physical limits.