Optimal Design of Structures with Discrete Variables Based on Improved Genetic Algorithms

In order to overcome premature phenomenon of simple genetic algorithms and inability to optimize algorithms with complex constraints, an improved genetic algorithms based on some improved methods is presented in this paper and is applied in optimization design of frame structure by adopting adaptive crossover rate and mutation rate, adjusting population size, fitness and penalty function and elitist strategy in the search of GA. The experimental results indicate that the improved genetic algorithm has good performance on the global convergence and that the proposed method can be applied to optimal design of structures with discrete variables.