SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 2304.07245

Machine Learning-Based Multi-Objective Design Exploration Of Flexible Disc Elements

Abstract

Design exploration is an important step in the engineering design process. This involves the search for design/s that meet the specified design criteria and accomplishes the predefined objective/s. In recent years, machine learning-based approaches have been widely used in engineering design problems. This paper showcases Artificial Neural Network (ANN) architecture applied to an engineering design problem to explore and identify improved design solutions. The case problem of this study is the design of flexible disc elements used in disc couplings. We are required to improve the design of the disc elements by lowering the mass and stress without lowering the torque transmission and misalignment capability. To accomplish this objective, we employ ANN coupled with genetic algorithm in the design exploration step to identify designs that meet the specified criteria (torque and misalignment) while having minimum mass and stress. The results are comparable to the optimized results obtained from the traditional response surface method. This can have huge advantage when we are evaluating conceptual designs against multiple conflicting requirements.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Gehendra Sharma, Sungkwang Mun, Nayeon Lee, Luke Peterson, Daniela Tellkamp, Anand Balu Nellippallil. 2023-04-14. Machine Learning-Based Multi-Objective Design Exploration Of Flexible Disc Elements. https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.07245

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Breaking the Central Bias: Spatially Partitioned Experts for Coordinate-Based Neuroevolution

Evolvable-Substrate HyperNEAT (ES-HyperNEAT), a bio-inspired indirect encoding that determines neuron placement and connection weights from spatial coordinates, exhibits a failure mode on MNIST as a diagnostic benchmark. Because input pixels map to a coordinate space centered at the origin, evolved networks converge on a small central cluster of input pixels, a spatial-concentration bias; prior work observed only 21% mean accuracy in this regime. Is this bias an optimization artifact or an architectural ceiling? Inspired by Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) principles, we partition the input into non-overlapping spatial segments, each assigned to a separately evolved specialist network. With 13 such experts, this design reaches 43% mean accuracy, a 106% relative improvement over the baseline. The architectural gain does not depend on data-driven aggregation: equal-weighted averaging, which uses no validation data, already yields a 70% improvement; the gain comes from partitioning, not the weighting. Receptive-field analysis shows the mechanism: partitioning forces evolution to discover features across the entire image, expanding active pixel coverage from 4% to 79%. Absolute accuracy stays below gradient-trained baselines, but the relative gain points to central bias, not the evolutionary search. Two tools are designed to generalize beyond MNIST: a receptive-field diagnostic for silent input-coverage collapse, and a spatial-partitioning remedy that restores coverage.

cs.NE

A Bio-Plausible Visual Neural Network for Locust-Inspired Collision Perception

Locust visual systems have long served as an important biological paradigm for studying looming perception and collision avoidance. Numerous computational models have successfully reproduced the selective responses of Lobula Giant Movement Detector (LGMD) neurons to approaching objects, thereby emulating the fundamental functionality of the biological system. However, existing models remain limited in biological plausibility and robustness when operating in complex and dynamic visual environments. To address these limitations, we propose a biologically plausible neural network for locust-inspired looming detection. The proposed framework incorporates a spatially isotropic sampling strategy that mimics the ommatidial organization of the locust compound eye, a population-voting mechanism inspired by population coding in biological neural systems, and leaky integrate-and-fire neuronal dynamics to replace conventional sigmoid-based membrane activation. Systematic experiments on synthetic stimuli, laboratory sequences, and real-world driving scenarios demonstrate that the proposed model improves robustness under challenging visual conditions while preserving computational efficiency and enhancing biological fidelity. These results highlight the potential of biologically grounded neural computation for robust and efficient collision perception.

cs.NE

Structural Fusion of Bayesian Networks with Limited Treewidth Using Genetic Algorithms

This paper introduces an evolutionary computation approach for consensus in structural Bayesian Network (BN) fusion under the constraint of limited treewidth. The consensus BN aims to reconcile multiple input BNs into a single one that retains key structural features present in the original networks. Treewidth, a graph-based parameter associated with computationally tractable inference, is utilized to restrict the complexity of the resulting network. A genetic algorithm is proposed to look for a BN that codifies as much information about the unrestricted fusion as possible while ensuring the treewidth restriction. Experimental evaluation demonstrates the genetic algorithm's ability to obtain consensus BNs with limited treewidth, providing a valuable tool for aggregating information from diverse sources while returning a computationally actionable model.

cs.NE