ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to use a modern genetic algorithm coupled with finite element analyses in order to optimize the thicknesses of certain structural elements that make part of the gun foundation and the reinforcements added around it. It presents how the gun foundation of the Offshore Patrol Vessels80 series built for the Colombian Navy is optimized using a genetic algorithm implemented in a Scilab script interacting with the finite elements solver ANSYS®. Genetic algorithms are modern algorithms developed by Holland and based on the concepts of Darwin’s theory of evolution: natural genetics and natural selection. To find the minimum of a function, two types of algorithms exist: the gradient-based methods such as the Newton-Raphson method, and the nongradient-based methods such as the modern genetic algorithms. The optimization study is limited to the gun foundation and the structure of the forecastle deck adjacent to it that would be affected by the gun blast.
