Applying genetic algorithms to selected topics commonly encountered in engineering practice

A carefully selected group of optimization problems is addressed to advocat e application of genetic algorithms in various engineering optimization dom ains. Each topic introduced in the present paper serves as a representative of a larger class of interesting problems that arise frequently in many ap plications such as design tasks. Functional optimization associated with va rious variational formulations, or a number of problems linked to image eva luation. No particular preferences are given to any version of generic algo rithms, but rather lessons learnt up-to-date are effectively combined to sh ow the power of the genetic algorithm in effective search for the desired s olution over a broad class of optimization problems discussed herein. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.