Development of Global Optimization Method by Orthogonal Array (Application to Mechanical Design Problems)

A new optimization method which can search for the global optimum solution and decrease the number of iterations is described. The feature of the new method includes creating orthogonal arrays and changing the level value of design factors for every search step. The orthogonal array is selected based on the number of factors & levels, and the level values are changed based on the trend of the optimum solution. The performance of the method was observed on the optimization problems of mechanical design which involve discrete and continuous variables. The newly developed method is found to be very effective for searching the global optimum solution of the mechanical design problems with fewer numbers of the function evaluations.