Stochastic optimization of an electromagnetic actuator by means of Dirichlet boundary condition iteration

In this paper optimization of the cross section of the coils of an axisymmetric electromagnetic actuator is performed by means of two stochastic methods: genetic algorithms and simulated annealing. The finite element formulation of the electromagnetic problems is based on the magnetic vector potential. The hybrid FEM/DBCI (Dirichlet boundary condition iteration) method is used to deal with the unbounded nature of the field problem and to reduce the computing effort of the whole optimization.