A mixed-integer heuristic for the structural optimization of a cruise ship

A heuristic approach is proposed to solve the structural optimization problem of a cruise ship.

The challenge of optimization is to define the scantling of the structure of a ship in order to minimize the weight or the production cost. The variables are the dimensions and positions of the constitutive elements of the structure: they are discrete by nature. The objective functions are nonlinear functions. The structure is submitted to geometric constraints and to structural constraints. The geometric constraints are linear functions and the structural constraints are implicit functions requiring a high computation cost. The problem belongs to the class of mixed-integer nonlinear problems (MINLP).

A local heuristic of the type “dive and fix” is combined with a solver based on approximation methods. The solver is used as a black-box tool to perform the structural analysis and solve the nonlinear optimization problems (NLP) defined by the heuristic. The heuristic is designed to always provide a discrete feasible solution. Experiments on a real-size structure demonstrate that the optimal value of the mixed-integer problem is of the same magnitude as the optimal value of the optimization problem for which all the variables can take continuous values.