VINAYAKA MISSIONS UNIVERSITY

AARUPADAI VEEDU INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI

&
V.M.K.V.ENGINEERING COLLEGE, SALEM
BOARD
: MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
REGULATION
: 2012
PROGRAM
: M..E. CAD
SEMESTER
: II
SUBJECT
: OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES
UNIT-1
INTRODUCTION TO OPTIMIZATION
PART-A
1. How do you solve a maximization problem as a minimization problem?
2. State the linear programming problem in standard form.
3. Define an OC problem and give an engineering example.
4. What is the difference between linear and nonlinear programming problems?
5. What is the difference between design variables and preassigned parameters?
6. What is the difference between a constraint surface and a composite constraint surface?
7. Suggest a simple method of handling multiple objectives in an optimization problem.
8. State five engineering applications of optimization.
9. What is graphical optimization, and what are its limitations?
10. State the principle behind the method of constrained variation.
11. State the KuhnTucker conditions.
12. What is an active constraint?
13. What is a convex programming problem? What is its significance?
14. How do you test the positive, negative, or indefiniteness of a square matrix [A]?
15. Define a stochastic programming problem and give two practical examples.
16. Under what conditions can a polynomial in n variables be called a posynomial?
17. What is a separable programming problem?
18. What are objective function contours?
19. What is a merit function?
20. What is a design space?

Part-B
1. A progressive university has decided to keep its library open round the clock and
gathered that the following numbers of attendants are required to reshelf the books.
Time of day (hrs)

Minimum member of attendants

0-4

required
4

4-8
8-12
12-16
16-20
20-24

8
10
9
14
3

It each attendant works eight consecutive hours per day, formulate the problem of finding
the minimum number of attachments necessary to satisfy the above requirements as a LP
problem.
2. A traveling saleswoman has to cover n towns. She plans to start from a particular town
numbered 1, visit each of the other n 1 towns, and return to the town 1. The distance
between towns i and j is given by d ij. Formulate the problem of selecting the sequence in
which the towns are to be visited to minimize the total distance traveled.
3. Find the dimensions of a cylindrical tin (with top and bottom) made up of sheet metal to
maximize its volume such that the total surface area is equal to A0 = 24
4. The deflection of a rectangular beam is inversely proportional to the width and the cube
of depth. Find the cross-sectional dimensions of a beam, which corresponds to minimum
deflection, that can be cut from a cylindrical log of radius r.
5. A manufacturer produces small refrigerators at a cost of Rs.60 per unit and sells them to
a retailer in a lot consisting of a minimum of 100 units. The selling price is set at Rs.80
per unit if the retailer buys 100 units at a time. If the retailer buys more than 100 units
at a time, the manufacturer agrees to reduce the price of all refrigerators by 10 cents for
each unit bought over 100 units. Determine the number of units to be sold to the retailer
to maximize the profit of the manufacturer.
6. A funnel, in the form of a right circular cone, is to be constructed from a sheet metal.
Find the dimensions of the funnel for minimum lateral surface area when the volume of
the funnel is specified as 200 inmm3.
7. It has been decided to leave a margin of 30mm at the top and 20mm each at the left
side, right side, and the bottom on the printed page of a book. If the area of the page is
specified as 5 104 mm2, determine the dimensions of a page that provide the largest
printed area.
8. A beam of uniform rectangular cross section is to be cut from a log having a circular
cross section of diameter 2a. The beam has to be used as a cantilever beam (the length is

fixed) to carry a concentrated load at the free end. Find the dimensions of the beam that
correspond to the maximum tensile (bending) stress carrying capacity.
9. Determine the maximum and minimum values of the function
f (x) = 12x5 45x4+ 40x3+ 5.
10. Find the extreme points of the function
f (x1, x2) = x13+ x2 3+ 2x12+ 4x22+ 6

UNIT-II
MINIMIZATION METHODS
PART-A
1. What is a one-dimensional minimization problem?
2. What are the limitations of classical methods in solving a one-dimensional minimization
problem?
3. What is the difference between elimination and interpolation methods?
4. Define Fibonacci numbers.

5. What is the difference between Fibonacci and golden section methods?

6. What is a unimodal function?
7. What is an interval of uncertainty?
8. Suggest a method of finding the minimum of a multimodal function.
9. What is an exhaustive search method?
10. What is a dichotomous search method?
11. Define the golden mean.
12. What is the difference between quadratic and cubic interpolation methods?
13. Why is refitting necessary in interpolation methods?
14. What is a direct root method?
15. What is the basis of the interval halving method?
16. What is the difference between Newton and quasi-Newton methods?
17. What is the secant method?
18. What is quadratic interpolation method?
19. What is cubic interpolation method?
20. What is the principle behind the elimination and interpolation techniques of
optimization?

PART-B
1. Find the value of x in the interval (0, 1), which maximize the function f=x (1, 5 ,-x) to within
0.05.
(a) By golden section method
(b) Fibnonaici method
2. Find the minimum of the function f = (/log) by the following methods (take the initial trial
step length as 0.1)
(a) Quadratic interpolation method.
(b) Direct root method.

3. Find the maximum of f=x(1.5 x) using Dichotomous Search method in the interval of
(0.0,1.00) to within 10% of the exact value.
4. Find the minimum of the function f 5 53 20 5 by the following methods
(a) Exhaustive Search in the interval (0.5)
(b) Fibonacci Search in the interval (0,5)
5. Find the minimum of the function
f ( x) 0.65

0.75
1
0.65 x tan 1 using
2
x
1 x

(a) Unrestricted search with a fixed step size of 0.1 from the starting point 0.0
(b) Dichotomous search method in the interval (0, 3) to achieve an accuracy of
with in 5% of the exact value using a value of = 0.0001.
6. (a) Why is refitting necessary in interpolation models?
(b) Find the minimum of

f 5 53 20 5 by

the cubic interpolation method. ( minimum 2

iterations).
7. Find the minimum of the function
f ( x) 0.65

0.75
1
0.65 x tan 1 using
2
x
1 x

(a) Unrestricted search with a fixed step size of 0.1 from the starting point 0.0
(b) Dichotomous search method in the interval (0, 3) to achieve an accuracy of with in
5% of the exact value using a value of = 0.0001.
8. Use Fibonacci search to approximate the location of maximum function f(x), F(x) = x(5 - x)
on (0,20), = 1.
9. Consider the following unconstrained function and solve by using Golden section search
Algorithm.
Min f(x) = x2 + (54/x)
Consider the following assumptions:
Search Space: (0, 5)
Accuracy: 0.0001
Perform the first iteration and report the value of x.
10. Find the minimum of f = 5 53 20 + 5 using quadratic interpolation method.

UNIT-III
CONSTRAINED OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES
PART-A
1. What is a parametric constraint?
2. Why is the SLP method called the cutting plane method?
3. How is the direction-finding problem solved in Zoutendijks method?
4. What is SUMT?
5. How is a parametric constraint handled in the interior penalty function method?
6. How can you identify an active constraint during numerical optimization?
7. Formulate the equivalent unconstrained objective function that can be used in random search
methods.

8. How is the perturbation method used as a convergence check?

9. How can you compute Lagrange multipliers during numerical optimization?
10. What is the use of extrapolating the objective function in the penalty function approach?
11. Why is handling of equality constraints difficult in the penalty function methods?
12. What is the geometric interpretation of the reduced gradient?
13. Is the generalized reduced gradient zero at the optimum solution?
14. What is the relation between the sequential quadratic programming method and the
Lagrangian function?
15. Approximate the nonlinear function f (X) as a linear function at X0.
16. What is the limitation of the linear extended penalty function?
17. What is the difference between the interior and extended interior penalty function methods?
18. What is the basic principle used in the augmented Lagrangian method?
19. When can you use the steepest descent direction as a usable feasible direction in Zoutendijks
method?
20. Construct the augmented Lagrangian function for a constrained optimization problem.

UNIT III
1. Minimize
f(x) = x12 + x22 + 6x1 8x2 + 10

subject to,

4x1 + x22 16
3x1 + 5x2 15
xi> 0, I = 1,2
by using the interior penalty function method with the starting point x1 =
2. Minimize f x1 , x2

1
x1 1 3 x2
3

1
.
1

g1(x1, x2) = x1 + 1 0

Subject to

g2(x1, x2) = x2 0
by interior penalty function method.
3. The problem of minimum weight design of a helical torsional spring subject to stress
constraint can be expressed as
f d , D

Minimize
Subject to

2 E 6 2 Q
d
Dd 2
14680M
4

14.5M
1
D 0.115 max

2.885

where d is the wire diameter, D is the mean coil diameter, is the density, E is the Youngs
modulus, is the angular deflection in degrees, M is the torsional moment and Q the number of
inactive turns. Solve this problem using geometric programming approach for the following data:
E = 200 GPa. max = 150 MPa, = 20, Q = 2, M = 0.3 N m and = 7.7 x 104N/m3.
4. Discuss in detail about Feasible direction method
5. Discuss in detail about Interior penalty function method
6. A beam of uniform rectangular cross section is to be cut from a log having a circular cross
section of diameter 2a. The beam is to be used as a cantilever beam to carry a concentrated load
at the free end. Find the cross-sectional dimensions of the beam which will have the maximum
bending stress carrying capacity using an exterior penalty function approach with analytical
unconstrained minimization.
7. It has been decided to shift grain from a warehouse to a factory in an open rectangular box of
length x1 meters, width x2 meters, and height x3 meters. The bottom, sides, and the ends of the
box cost, respectively, Rs.80, Rs.10, and Rs.20/m2. It costs Rs.1 for each round trip of the box.
Assuming that the box will have no salvage value, find the minimum cost of transporting 80m 3
of grain.
8. Minimize
f(x) = x12 + x22 + 6x1 8x2 + 10
subject to,
4x1 + x22 16
3x1 + 5x2 15

xi> 0, I = 1,2
by using the exterior penalty function method with the starting point x1 =

1
.
1

9. Discuss in detail about seperable and geometric programming.

10. Discuss briefly about constrained optimization techniques.

UNIT-IV
UNCONSTRAINED OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES
Part-A
1. State the necessary and sufficient conditions for the unconstrained minimum of a function.
2. Give three reasons why the study of unconstrained minimization methods is important.
3. What is the major difference between zeroth-, first-, and second-order methods?
4. What are the characteristics of a direct search method?
5. What is a descent method?
6. Define each term: Pattern directions & Conjugate directions
7. State the iterative approach used in unconstrained optimization.
8. What is quadratic convergence?
9. What is the difference between linear and superlinear convergence?
10. Define the condition number of a square matrix.
11. Why is the scaling of variables important?
12. What is the difference between random jumping and random walk methods?

13. Under what conditions are the processes of reflection, expansion, and contraction used in the
simplex method?
14. When is the grid search method preferred in minimizing an unconstrained function?
15. Why is a quadratically convergent method considered to be superior for the minimization of
a nonlinear function?
16. Why is Powells method called a pattern search method?
17. What are the roles of univariate and pattern moves in the Powells method?
18.What is univariate method?
19. Indicate a situation where a central difference formula is not as accurate as a forward
difference formula.
20. Why is a central difference formula more expensive than a forward or backward difference
formula in finding the gradient of a function?

PART-B
1. Write brief notes on the following method.
(a) Pattern Search method.
2. An electric power of 5 x 104kw generated at a hydro electric plant is to be transmitted 400km
to a step down transformer station for distribution at 11kilo volts. The power dissipated due to
the resistance of conductance is I2C-1 where I is the line current in amperes and C is the
conductance in mho. Based on the cost of delivered power, the resistance loss can be expressed
as Rs.0.263 I2C-1. The power transmitted (K) is related to the transmission line voltage at the
power plant (E) by the relation K =

3 EI where E is in Kilo volts. The cost of conductors is

given by Rs.3.9 x 106C and the investment in equipment needed to accommodate the voltage E is
given by Rs.103E. Find the values of E and C to minimize the cost of transmission system. Solve
the problem by the following methods.
(a) Fletcher Reeves method
(b) Steepest descent method
3. Minimize f=4x12 + 3x22 + 5x1x2 8x1 starting from (0, 0) by conjugate method.

4. Minimize f(x1, x2) = x1 x2 + 2x12 + 2x1x2 + x22 starting from the point x1 = (0, 0) by steepest
decent method.
5. Minimize f (x1, x2) = x1 x2+ 2x12+ 2x1x2+ x22 with the starting point (0, 0) using uni variate
method.
6. Minimize f (x1, x2) = x1 x2+ 2x12 +2x1x2 + x22 from the starting point X1 =

using

Powells method.
7 . Write brief notes on the following method.
(a) Conjugate gradient method
8. Minimize f = 2x12+ x22 by using the steepest descent method with the starting point (1, 2) (two
iterations only).
9. Minimize f = 4x12+ 3x22 5x1x2 8x1 starting from point (0, 0) using Powells method.
Perform three operations.
10. Minimize f = 2x12+ x22 by using the univariate method with the starting point (1, 2) (two
iterations only).
UNIT-V
APPLICATIONS OF HEURISTICS IN OPTIMIZATION
PART-A
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Define Roulette wheel selection process

Pheromone evaporation rate
Neural network
Fuzzy feasible domain
Membership function
Multilayer feed forward network
What is Boltzmanns probability distribution?
How is an inequality constrained optimization problem converted into an unconstrained

problem for use in GAs?

9. What is the difference between a crisp set and a fuzzy set?
10. How is the output of a neuron described commonly?
11. What are the basic operations used in GAs?
12. What is a fitness function in GAs?
13. Can you consider SA as a zeroth-order search method?
14. How do you select the length of the binary string to represent a design variable?
15. Construct the objective function to be used in GAs for a minimization problem with
mixed equality and inequality constraints.

16. How is the crossover operation performed in GAs?

17. What is the purpose of mutation? How is it implemented in GAs?
18. What is the physical basis of SA?
19. What is metropolis criterion and where is it used?
20. What is a neural network?

PART-B
1. Consider the following two strings denoting the vectors X1 and X2:
X1: {1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1}
X2: {0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0}
Find the result of crossover at location 2. Also, determine the decimal values of the
variables before and after crossover if each string denotes a vector of two variables.
2. Two discrete fuzzy sets, A and B are defined as follows:
A = {(60, 0.1) (62, 0.5) (64, 0.7) (66, 0.9) (68, 1.0) (70, 0.8) }
B = {(60, 0.0) (62, 0.2) (64, 0.4) (66, 0.8) (68, 0.9) (70, 1.0) }
Determine the union and intersection of these sets.
3. A design variable, with lower and upper bounds 2 and 13, respectively, is to be
represented with an accuracy of 0.02. Determine the size of the binary string to be used.
4. Find the minimum of f = x5 5 x3 20 x + 5 in the range (0, 3) using the ant colony
optimization method. Show detailed calculations for 2 iterations with 4 ants.

5. Find the maximum of the function f = x5 + 5 x3 + 20x 5 in the range 4 x 4 using

the PSO method. Use 4 particles with the initial positions x1 = 2, x2 = 0, x3 = 1, and x4
= 3. Show detailed calculations for 2 iterations.

6. Find the minimum of the following function using simulated annealing:

f (X) = 6x12 6x1x2 + 2x22 x1 2x2
Assume suitable parameters and show detailed calculations for 2 iterations.
7. Explain the working principles of Genetic Algorithms (GA) using an unconstrained
optimization problem as an example. Compare GA with traditional methods.

8. Explain in details the simulated annealing process.

9. Solve the maximization problem

2x
1.5 3 x
f ( x)
5 x 2.5

2.4 2 x

if
if
if
if

x 0 .3
0.3 x 0.5
0.5 x 0.8

x 0 .8

Using simulated annealing with initial point x (0) = 0.2, a standard normal
probability distribution is used to create a neighboring point.
(a) Calculate the probability of creating a point in the global basin
(b) If a temperature T = 10 is used, what is the overall probability of accepting a point in
the global basin?
10. Apply the simple genetic Algorithm to solve the following NLP problem.
Min (x1 1.5)2 + (x2 4)2
ST
4x1 + x22 18 0
2x1 x22 1 0
0 X1, X2 4
Accuracy levels required for the variables x1 and x2 = 2 decimal places.
(a) Formula the constrained problem using bracket operator penalty function.
(b) How many bits required for coding the variables

(c) Write down the fitness function, which you would be using in crossover.
(d) From the randomly generated initial population select 2 chromosomes and do the
crossover.