A Binary Particle Swarm Optimization for Structural Topology Optimization

Binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO) algorithm is applied to continuum structural topology design. An overview of the PSO and binary PSO algorithms are first described. A discretized topology design representation and the method for mapping each binary particle into toplogy representation are then detailed. Subsequently, a modified BPSO algorithm adopting binary bit-string type code and logic AND, OR and XOR operators with corresponding updating rules is illustrated. A well-studied example from structural topology optimization problems is utilized to demonstrate the efficiency and versatility of the proposed method. The results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and its ability to find families of structural topologies.