ADS EXPERT

ADS Expert is an integrated system that (a) provides suggestions about suitable optimization algorithms for a particular structural optimiza tion problem, (b) it offers explanations and guide lines, in the form of hypertext, that refer to the optimization strategy, optimizer and o ne dimensional search method, (c) it produces the required gradients f or the objective function and the constraints using symbolic different iation, (d) establishes a direct linking with ADS routines and (e) it monitors the evolution of the optimization process. The system can be used as an educational tool for structural optimization and as an effi cient integrated system for small to medium size optimization problems for which the objective function and the constraints are given in the form of explicit functions of the design variables. The system is a W indows application and runs quite satisfactorily on PCs.