Development of a multi-fidelity optimisation strategy based on hybrid methods

Abstract

A multi-fidelity optimisation strategy has been developed in the present work, and its performance is illustrated through a series of test cases. The strategy is based on hybrid methods such that two genetic optimisation algorithms are employed, each coupled to a different fidelity level with transfer of information between them. The aim is that the low fidelity model, being less accurate but with a lower computational cost, performs a comprehensive search along the design space guiding the high fidelity model to the optimum region. This strategy has been shown to reduce the computational time of an optimisation through analytical test cases as well as numerical cases. The analytical cases have been used to tune the parameters that define the multi-fidelity strategy, while the numerical cases are employed to apply the method to engineering problems, focusing on the aerodynamic performance of an airfoil. The speed-up shows a certain dependency to the models relation, both regarding their similarity level as well as the relative computational cost. For cases exhibiting a significant dissimilarity between models, wherein the low fidelity model is notably inaccurate, the attained speed-up diminishes, and numerous instances demonstrate an absence of speed-up. However, for most cases, even with poor model similarity the optimisations are accelerated by an order of 2, while values up to 3–5 were found for higher similarity levels. Hence, the developed strategy shows a relevant decrease of computational cost of an optimisation procedure although its performance is affected by the models relative accuracy.