The concept of optimization is intrinsically tied to humanity's desire
to excel. Trough we may not consciously recognize it and trough the
optimization process takes different forms in different fields of
endeavor, this drive to do better than before cosumes much of our
energy, whether we are athletes ,artists,business-man or engineers. The
field we are concerned with is that of engineering and, while the
emphasis here is on mecchanical,aeronautical, and civil engineering,
this is by no means the limit of applicability of optimizaztion
processes. We will consider the use of numerical optimization
techniques to devise a rational, directed design procedure. Altrough
these methods provide a computational tool for design , there is much
more to be gained from this study. Indeed numerical optimization
provides us with a new design philosophy. It gives us an ordered
approach to design decisions where before we relied heavily on
intuition and experience. It is this order which makes the techniques
presented so very attractive, because it provides insight into the
actual design process.However, this should not be construed to suggest
that the design process can be reduced to a few computer runs or that
out intuition and experience are unimportant. Rather, the computer can
now be used to relive us of the tedium of repetive calculations,
freeing us to spend time in the truly creative apects of engineering
design.
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