DEVELOPMENT OF A GENETIC ALGORITHM BASED SEARCH STRATEGY SUITED FOR DESIGN OPTIMISATION OF INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES

Abstract

Engine design optimisation is a multi-objective, multi-domain problem in a discontinuous design space. The state of theart of optimisation techniques shows that only methods of direct and adaptive search are appropriate for this type ofproblem. These include, adaptive random search, simulated annealing, evolution strategies and genetic algorithms. Ofthese methods, the genetic algorithms have been shown to be the most suited for the optimisation of multi-modal responsefunctions in a discontinuous design space. This paper considers the important characteristics of genetic algorithms andtheir adaptation for use in parametric design optimisation of internal combustion engines. In order to verify the basicfunctionality of the proposed optimisation strategy, a genetic algorithm based, optimisation software was developed andtested on a number of analytical functions, selected from optimisation literature, with satisfactory results.