Genetic Algorithms and FM-BEM for the Microstructure Optimization of Micro-Heterogeneous Materials with Functional-Graded Thermal Conductivity

Abstract

A numerical tool for the design of micro-heterogeneous materials with customized heat conduction properties is presented in this paper. The spatial variation of the local material properties is achieved via the optimization of the spatial distribution of the holes/inclusions. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used for this purpose. Although very effective and versatile GAs are computationally expensive. This problem is tackled in two ways here: a Fast Multipole Boundary Element Method algorithm is used for the thermal analysis of the microstructures, and the GA is implemented in parallel using a cluster of PCs. Two examples illustrate the performance of the developed implementation.