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Inductive machine learning of optimal modular structures: Estimating solutions using support vector machines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2007

Sean Hanna
Sean Hanna
Affiliation:
University College London, London, United Kingdom
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Abstract

Structural optimization is usually handled by iterative methods requiring repeated samples of a physics-based model, but this process can be computationally demanding. Given a set of previously optimized structures of the same topology, this paper uses inductive learning to replace this optimization process entirely by deriving a function that directly maps any given load to an optimal geometry. A support vector machine is trained to determine the optimal geometry of individual modules of a space frame structure given a specified load condition. Structures produced by learning are compared against those found by a standard gradient descent optimization, both as individual modules and then as a composite structure. The primary motivation for this is speed, and results show the process is highly efficient for cases in which similar optimizations must be performed repeatedly. The function learned by the algorithm can approximate the result of optimization very closely after sufficient training, and has also been found effective at generalizing the underlying optima to produce structures that perform better than those found by standard iterative methods.

Keywords

Machine LearningOptimizationStructuresSupport Vector Machines
Type
Research Article
Information
AI EDAM , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , November 2007 , pp. 351 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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