Combined heat and power economic dispatch using integrated civilized swarm optimization and Powell’s pattern search method

An integrated technique that embeds civilized swarm optimization (CSO) and Powell’s pattern search (PPS) method is proposed to search economic dispatch of combined heat and power (CHP) dispatch problem. In the proposed technique, CSO is selected as global search technique and PPS is undertaken as a local search technique. Civilized swarm optimization is having attributes of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and society civilization algorithm (SCA). In CSO, mutually interacting societies forms the civilization. The positions of society particles are updated through the guidance of own leader along with their best positions. The best performing particle of CSO is further improved by PPS method based on a certain set criterion. The PPS method is based on the conjugate search direction method and does not require the gradient or Hessian matrix of the function to be optimized. The CHP dispatch problem has a mutual dependency of demand and heat-power capacity of generating units, so it requires an effective constraint handling strategy. In this work, variable reduction strategy with exterior penalty method is applied to satisfy equality constraints. The proposed technique is tested on five CHP test systems considering valve-point loading effect, prohibited operating zones constraint, and transmission losses. The obtained results are compared to the results reported in the literature and found satisfactory. Further, for verification of statistical performance of the proposed technique, t-test and Wilcoxon signed rank test is also performed.     

Fault diagnosis of rolling bearings using a genetic algorithm optimized neural network

In rotary complex machines, collapse of a component may inexplicably occur usually accompanied by a noise or a disturbance emanating from other sources. Rolling bearings constitute a vital part in many rotational machines and the vibration generated by a faulty bearing easily affects the neighboring components. Continuous monitoring, fault diagnosis and predictive maintenance, is a crucial task to reduce the degree of damage and stopping time for a rotating machine. Analysis of fault-related vibration signal is a usual method for accurate diagnosis. Among the resonant demodulation techniques, a well-known resolution often used for fault diagnosis is envelope analysis. But, usually this method may not be adequate enough to indicate satisfactory results. It may require some auxiliary additional techniques. This study suggests some methods to extract features using envelope analysis accompanied by Hilbert Transform and Fast Fourier Transform. The proposed artificial neural network (ANN) based fault estimation algorithm was verified with experimental tests and promising results. Every test was initiated with a reference ANN architecture to avoid inappropriate classification during the evaluation of fitness value. Later, ANN model was modified using a genetic algorithm providing, an optimal skillful fast-reacting network architecture with improved classification results.     

Extracting TSK-type Neuro-Fuzzy model using the Hunting search algorithm

This paper proposes a Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) type Neuro-Fuzzy model tuned by a novel metaheuristic optimization algorithm called Hunting Search (HuS). The HuS algorithm is derived based on a model of group hunting of animals such as lions, wolves, and dolphins when looking for a prey. In this study, the structure and parameters of the fuzzy model are encoded into a particle. Thus, the optimal structure and parameters are achieved simultaneously. The proposed method was demonstrated through modeling and control problems, and the results have been compared with other optimization techniques. The comparisons indicate that the proposed method represents a powerful search approach and an effective optimization technique as it can extract the accurate TSK fuzzy model with an appropriate number of rules.     

六盘山隧道软弱围岩快速施工工艺

结合六盘山隧道Ⅴ级围岩的工程特点,着重介绍软弱围岩隧道快速施工方案及技术要求,通过工程实践,详细地介绍了三台阶七步开挖法施工的技术特点、工艺原理、施工工艺等,对类似隧道施工有一定的参考价值。     

GPU accelerated pivoting rules for the simplex algorithm

Simplex type algorithms perform successive pivoting operations (or iterations) in order to reach the optimal solution. The choice of the pivot element at each iteration is one of the most critical step in simplex type algorithms. The flexibility of the entering and leaving variable selection allows to develop various pivoting rules. In this paper, we have proposed some of the most well-known pivoting rules for the revised simplex algorithm on a CPU–GPU computing environment. All pivoting rules have been implemented in MATLAB and CUDA. Computational results on randomly generated optimal dense linear programs and on a set of benchmark problems (Netlib-optimal, Kennington, Netlib-infeasible, Mészáros) are also presented. These results showed that the proposed GPU implementations of the pivoting rules outperform the corresponding CPU implementations.     

From evaluation to learning: Some aspects of designing a cyber-university

Research is described on a system for web-assisted education and how it is used to deliver on-line drill questions, automatically suited to individual students. The system can store and display all of the various pieces of information used in a class-room (slides, examples, handouts, drill items) and give individualized drills to participating students. The system is built on the basic theme that it is for learning rather than evaluation.Experimental results shown here imply that both the item database and the item allocation methods are important and examples are given on how these need to be tuned for each course. Different item allocation methods are discussed and a method is proposed for comparing several such schemes. It is shown that students improve their knowledge while using the system. Classical statistical models which do not include learning, but are designed for mere evaluation, are therefore not applicable.A corollary of the openness and emphasis on learning is that the student is permitted to continue requesting drill items until the system reports a grade which is satisfactory to the student. An obvious resulting challenge is how such a grade should be computed so as to reflect actual knowledge at the time of computation, entice the student to continue and simultaneously be a clear indication for the student. To name a few methods, a grade can in principle be computed based on all available answers on a topic, on the last few answers or on answers up to a given number of attempts, but all of these have obvious problems.     

A comparison between optimization algorithms applied to synchronization of bilateral teleoperation systems against time delay and modeling uncertainties

The goal of this paper is to achieve optimal performance for synchronization of bilateral teleoperation systems against time delay and modeling uncertainties, in both free and contact motions. Time delay in bilateral teleoperation systems imposes a delicate tradeoff between the conflicting requirements of stability and transparency. To this reason, in this paper, population-based optimization algorithms are employed to tuning the proposed controller parameters. The performance of tuned controllers is compared with the gains obtained by Cuckoo Optimization Algorithm (COA), Biogeography-Based Optimization (BBO), Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA), Artificial Bee Colony (ABC), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Ant Colony Optimization with continuous domain (ACOR), Self-adaptive Differential Evolution with Neighborhood Search (SaNSDE), Adaptive Differential Evolution with Optional External Archive (JADE), Differential Evolution with Ensemble of Parameters and mutation strategies (EPSDE) and Cuckoo Search (CS). Through numerical simulations, the validity of the proposed method is illustrated. It is also shown that the COA algorithm is able to solve synchronization problem with high performance in stable transparent bilateral teleoperation systems.     

Image‐based Continuous Displacement Measurements Using an Improved Spectral Approach

Digital Image Correlation algorithms capable of determining continuous displacement fields are receiving growing attention in the field of mechanical properties identification. In this paper, we develop an Improved Spectral Approach (ISA) to reconstruct continuous displacements based on their Fourier decomposition. This approach leads to a time and memory‐efficient algorithm, thanks to the fast Fourier transform. Moreover, the Fourier‐based decomposition enables accurate heterogeneous measurements. Improvements consist in increasing the accuracy and convergence rate as well as dealing with non‐periodic displacements and images. Furthermore, a theoretical framework is presented to quantify the noise sensitivity of the ISA from which useful information is retrieved. The approach is evaluated using synthetic images deformed by heterogeneous displacement fields. Comparisons show that the introduced modifications lead to lower uncertainties by one order of magnitude in the case of non‐periodic images and displacement field studied. Moreover, first‐order (SO1) and second‐order (SO2) subset‐based Digital Image Correlation algorithms are compared with the ISA. The comparisons herein reveal that the uncertainties of the ISA are 6–9 times smaller than those of the SO1 due to insufficiency of the first‐order shape function for the estimation of heterogeneous displacements, while being slightly smaller than those of the SO2. Moreover, as the image smoothness decreases, the uncertainties of the SO2 deviate from those of the ISA and the exact displacements. The presented approach shows great potentials for challenging applications such as strain measurements at microstructural levels.     

An efficient hybrid evolutionary heuristic using genetic algorithm and simulated annealing algorithm to solve machine loading problem in FMS

In this paper, a machine loading problem in a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is discussed, with bi-criterion objectives of minimising system imbalance and maximising system throughput in the occurrence of technological constraints such as available machining time and tool slots. A mathematical model is used to select machines, assign operations and the required tools in order to minimise the system's imbalance while maximising the throughput. An efficient evolutionary algorithm by hybridising the genetic algorithm (GA) and simulated annealing (SA) algorithm called GASA is proposed in this paper. The performance of the GASA is tested by using 10 sample dataset and the results are compared with the heuristics reported in the literature. The influence of genetic operators on the evolutionary search in GASA is studied and reported. Two machine selection heuristics are proposed and their influence on the quality of the solution is also studied. Extensive computational experiments have been carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed evolutionary heuristics and the results are presented in tables and figures. The results clearly support the better performance of GASA over the algorithms reported in the literature.     

The dynamic characteristics of taper seals

Abstract

The dynamic characteristics of taper seal has been investigated. The approach is similar to Black's analysis; the stiffness and damping coefficients are derived. The results showed that the taper seals presented more stable characteristics comparing with plain seals. The practical application of this theory is increasingly used in industry.