The research of the decomposition‐coordination method of multidisciplinary collaboration design optimization

Abstract

PurposeTo obtain the global optimum of large‐scale complex engineering systems, the paper proposes a decomposition‐coordination method of multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO).Design/methodology/approachA rational decomposition approach based on artificial neural network (ANN) and genetic algorithms is proposed for partitioning the complex design problem into smaller, more tractable subsystems. Once the problem is decomposed into subsystems, each subsystem may be solved in parallel provided that there is some mechanism to coordinate the solutions in the different subsystems. So the response surface approximation model based on the ANN as a coordination method is described and a MDO framework is presented.FindingsThe proposed method was implemented in the design of a tactical missile. Numerical results show the effectiveness of the decomposition‐coordination method, as indicated by both better performance and lower computational requirements.Originality/valueThis paper adopts a novel MDO method to solve complex engineering problem and offers a potential and efficient MDO framework to researchers.