Rapid optimization of blast wave mitigation strategies using Quiet Direct Simulation and Genetic Algorithm Original Research Article

Presented is a rapid calculation tool for the optimization of blast wave related mitigation strategies. The motion of gas resulting from a blast wave (specified by the user) is solved by the Quiet Direct Simulation (QDS) method – a rapid kinetic theory-based finite volume method. The optimization routine employed is a newly developed Genetic Algorithm (GA) which is demonstrated to be similar to a Differential Evolution (DE) scheme with several modifications. In any Genetic Algorithm, individuals contain genetic information which is passed on to newly created individuals in successive generations. The results from unsteady QDS simulations are used to determine the individualʹs “genetic fitness” which is employed by the proposed Genetic Algorithm during the reproduction process. The combined QDS/GA algorithm is applied to various test cases and finally the optimization of a non-trivial blast wave mitigation strategy. Both QDS and the proposed GA are demonstrated to perform with minimal computational expense while accurately solving the optimization problems presented.