Aerospace Design: A Comparative Study of Optimizers

This study is a comparison between contemporary design optimization algorithms for use in a propulsion design application. The engineering design problem for this study involves the development of a desired solid rocket motor grain. The methods are used independently to match a prescribed set of parameters defining the motor’s thrust versus time profile. For this development, four different design optimization techniques are considered: a real coded genetic algorithm (GA), a binary GA, a Repulsive Particle Swarm Optimizer (RPSO), and a direct geometric search algorithm VTDirect. The algorithms are compared based on their speed and effectiveness in solving the design problem with the figure of merit being a least squares fit to a desired burn profile. NOMENCLATURE