See

discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/280722331

1-s2.0-S0168874X12000807-main
DATASET AUGUST 2015

DOWNLOAD

VIEWS

3 AUTHORS, INCLUDING:
Hector Morales
Metropolitan Autonomous University
4 PUBLICATIONS 4 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE

Available from: Wonsiri Punurai

Retrieved on: 04 September 2015

Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 58 (2012) 8490

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Finite Elements in Analysis and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/finel

Implementation of genetic algorithm for optimum cutting pattern generation

of wrinkle free nishing membrane structures
Wonsiri Punurai a,n, Wasan Tongpool b, Jose Hector Morales c
a

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mahidol University, Nakhonpathom 73170, Thailand
Architectural Engineering 49 Limited, Bangkok 10110, Thailand
c
ticas, A.C., Guanajuato, Gto 36240, Mexico
n en Matema
Centro de Investigacio
b

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 1 August 2011
Received in revised form
10 February 2012
Accepted 15 April 2012
Available online 23 May 2012

The purpose of this paper is to show a practical implementation of a genetic algorithm for minimizing
membrane stresses discrepancies between the actual assembled equilibrium and the specied design
state. The method prevents the surface wrinkle problems in membrane structures under service loading
and determines an optimum cutting pattern, which accounts for the designed stresses of the membrane
structures. Using the displacements of the 3-D surface as the key variables, the proposed method
utilizes a geometrically nonlinear nite element analysis based upon the improved the stress-adapted
numerical form nding of pre-stressed surfaces by the updated reference strategy. The model of genetic
algorithm and the genetic operators are then designed to solve numerically the optimization problem.
The method is validated through examples and compared with the available data. The analysis results
show no signicant differences between the assumed designed stresses and the actual stresses in the
membrane.
& 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Optimization
Cutting pattern
Genetic algorithm
Membrane structures
Finite element analysis

1. Introduction
Membrane cutting pattern generation deals with the problem
of dening the subdivision of a large three dimensional surface
into subsurfaces. The shape-nding processes must ensure that
these subsurfaces can be developed in two-dimensions [1]. However, the surfaces which are used in practical membrane structural design possess strong double curvature. Particularly, many
problems are associated with the cutting pattern generation
when the high-curvature structural design is unavoidable. One
of them is in trying to get rid of wrinkles, which could arise in
stressed membrane surfaces after the construction is completed.
The previous studies show that wrinkles are caused by two main
reasons: (i) an extension of the material arises and it is not
considered during the cutting pattern; (ii) there exists a deviation
between the actual stress at the construction stage and the design
stress given by the designer. When the cutting strips are evaluated in the light of the morphological parameters of forms,
forces and materials, these problems need to be taken into
account for minimization.
Many attempts have been made in recent years to develop
better and effective procedures to produce optimum cutting
patterns. Grundig et al. [2] and Tsubota et al. [3] proposed a

Corresponding author. Tel.: 662 889 2138x6391; fax: 662 889 2138x6388.
E-mail addresses: egwpr@mahidol.ac.th, wonsiri@gmail.com (W. Punurai).

0168-874X/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nel.2012.04.008

method, which could be used to improve processes of mapping

three dimensional strips with a series of planar triangles. The
method utilized all the points belonging to the strip edges in
the two dimensional coordinate system, as control variables in
the optimizing cutting patterns. The geometry of edges was
calculated by error minimization techniques which could bring
a membrane stress distribution, in the actual assembled equilibrium state, closer to the uniform stress distribution specied in
the designed state. However, this method is considered inconvenient because the process required the separation between
inner and exterior elements. The method also required the line
tting process on exterior points at each iteration step. Yagi et al.
[4] presented a different approach in which the equilibrium state,
after deformation, could be simultaneously considered together
with the conguration of the cutting pattern as the state of predeformation. Shimida et al. [5] took another approach by determining a plane domain consisting of triangular surface elements
which, once transformed into the 3-D strips, led to minimal strain
energy. The characteristics of the material were included in the
mechanical formulation. However, parameters related to the prestress of the membrane were not considered, thus, it was required
that the development of each strip must be followed by an
operation so as to take into account the initial stresses. A better
solution was eventually proposed. Maurin et al. [6], Ohsaki et al.
[7] and Kim et al. [8] proposed a stress composition approach
where the considerations of forms, forces and materials were
simultaneously taken in the geometrically nonlinear nite

W. Punurai et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 58 (2012) 8490

element analysis for cutting the pattern analysis of membrane

structures. Their approaches applied an inverse scheme where the
developability conditions, based on the displacements and stresses for the surface to be reduced to plane sheets, were incorporated in the process of nding equilibrium shape with minimum
stress deviation from the target distribution. The technique still
used nodal coordinates of the two dimensional attening pattern
as the optimizing control variables, but allowed the constraint
positions of the inner elements to be displaced together with the
external ones, with no separation required during the iteration
process. The trade-off between shape and stress deviation could
be incorporated in the objective function and to improve further
the stress distributions of the discretized triangular nite
elements.
These methods mentioned above were able to perform well with
structures with moderate curvature. However, to guarantee a more
exact distribution of stress over all the structure and to overcome
problems of having non-uniforming stress distributions, over the
part of steeper curvature areas, it is necessary to develop a better
method for producing more accurate cutting pattern.
In this paper, a more robust method for computing an optimum
cutting pattern is presented. The method is based on an extension of
work by Bletzinger et al. [9,10] who introduced and improved the
stress-adapted numerical form nding of pre-stressed surfaces by
the updated reference strategy. Using the displacements of the 3-D
surface as the key variables, the proposed method utilizes a
geometrically nonlinear nite element analysis combined with the
model of genetic algorithm and the designed genetic operators to
solve numerically the optimization problem. With the presented
approach, the membrane stress distribution in the actual assembled
equilibrium state is brought closer to the uniform stress distribution
specied in the design stage. The paper is organized as follows.
Section 2 presents FEM formulations for shape-nding equilibrium.
Section 3 describes the cutting pattern procedure in two steps:
partitioning the structure into strips and attening and compensation of the strips. By iteration of these two steps, the optimum
cutting pattern can be provided. Section 4 presents the numerical
simulation results which were carried out on the two membrane
structural examples with the scheme discussed in Section 3. Results
of numerical calculations were then veried against the available
data in the literature. Finally, Section 5 presents conclusions.

85

GreenLagrange strains 0 e using the constitutive tensor

C : 0 e , where C is the collective of material constants and
dened in terms of Youngs moduli and Poissons ratios. The
second KirchhoffPiola stress tensor t0 S is related to the Cauchy
1
T
stress r by t0 S det t0 F t0 F rt0 F , where t0 F @x=@X is the
deformation gradient which provides the relationship (mapping)
between a deformed point x and a point of origin X. By
components we have
0S

0 eij

n
X

NI,X j u^ i NI,X i u^ j NI,X i u^ k NI,X j u^ k NI,X j u^ k NI,X i u^ k ;

I1

n
X

0 ij

NI,X i u^ k NI,X j u^ k ;

I1

t Dt

s  N du ds

f  N du dn,

Y
Z

Z
Y

Fig. 1. An evolution process for nding an optimal cutting pattern for a hyperbolic
paraboloid type membrane structure. (a) Initial membrane shape-nding with
initial updated reference geometry. (b) GA-optimized cutting pattern of an
extracted strip.

2. FEM formulations for shape-nding equilibrium

In geometrically nonlinear nite element analysis, a membrane
is discretized by using the triangular nite element model with
constant strain. The formulation of NewtonRaphson iteration
scheme is discussed in this section to get the solution of the stiffness
nonlinear equations of the membrane, is discussed in this section. A
key issue pertaining to the kinematics of pre-stressed membranes is
that of considerable rigid body rotations along the deformation path
are developed, whereas strains remain in a moderate range. Consequently, a hyper-elastic Saint VenantKirchhoff constitutive law can
be adopted to describe the behavior of the material in an adequate
manner, as well as a total Lagrangian formulation [1113].
Following Bletzinger [9], Bathe [14], and Punurai et al. [15], the
shape-nding equilibrium equations for the membrane element
used in this study are expressed as
Z
Z
Z
b 0 d e : C : 0 e dA b 0 d g : t0 S dA t Dt Rb 0 d e : t0 S dA,
1
A

where : is the double contraction; b is the (constant) thickness of

the membrane; de is the strain tensor corresponding to virtual
displacements. For hyper-elastic materials, the incremental second KirchoffPiola stresses 0 S can be related to the incremental

Fig. 2. A plot of convergence speed of the optimization process in the GA

optimization procedure.

86

W. Punurai et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 58 (2012) 8490

Fig. 3. Initial shape conguration of the model example I (isometric view).

X 2 warp
cable
1

X3

X1 fill

Fig. 4. Discretization of the model example I.

Fig. 6. Stress distributions of an optimum pattern of a quarter model example I.

Table 1
Membrane material properties of model examples I and II.
Properties

Values

Thickness (cm)
Youngs modulus (MPa)
Shear modulus (MPa)
Poissons ratio

b 0.08
E1 267.05 (ll), E2 806.05 (wrap)
G13 69.825
n12 0:29, n21 0:87

Fig. 7. Actual stress distributions of a quarter model example I.

initial cutting pattern

optimum cutting pattern

Fig. 5. Initial and optimum cutting pattern for a quarter model example I.

where N is the matrix of the shape functions; u^ is the vector that

gathers the nodal displacements i,j 1, 2, 3 for the n nodes of a
single nite element; s is the applied surface traction per unit
area; f is the applied force per unit volume; du is the virtual
displacement evaluated on the surface. All stress components
normal to the surface are zero, i.e., S13 S23 S33 0.

3. Optimum cutting pattern

After the pre-stress and 3-D equilibrium equations are provided the initial membranes shape-nding are determined. This
process is to follow the standard grid method [16] and the
method of updating the reference geometry [10]. The approximate plane sheets can then be obtained by cutting surfaces along
the cutting lines, and by reducing the stresses at the equilibrium.
At the rst stage of the procedure, to optimize a plane sheet
from a curved surface of a specied shape a quasi-Newton
method (to approximate the Hessian matrix from the gradient)
is applied to minimize the sum of the squares of the length of

W. Punurai et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 58 (2012) 8490

differences between 2-D and 3-D congurations. By means of

these lengths of differences, the objective function to be minimized is introduced as
Jx 12xT x,

where x x1 ,x2 ,x3 T , the superscript T denotes transpose of a

vector, and xi li Li ; li and Li are the lengths of the element edges
i in 2-D and 3-D congurations, respectively.
In the next step, an actual equilibrium analysis is performed
with these changed 2-D coordinates. By this procedure, the new
values of displacements and stresses of a 3-D curved surface are
determined. It is unavoidable that some differences should occur
between actual and design membrane stresses and that they
should be minimized or eliminated. Using the displacements of
the 3-D surface as the key variables from the specied target
stress vector r0 , under constraints of the equilibrium equation

Table 2
Comparison of membrane stress coefcients for model example I.
Results

AVR1

AVR2

AVSD1

AVSD2

Moncrieff et al. [23]

Kim and Lee [8]
Present work

1.080
0.992
1.009

1.100
0.992
0.992

0.100
0.047
0.051

0.200
0.113
0.090

87

(1), the optimization problem for minimizing the stress deviation

is stated as
Jrr0 12rr0 T rr0 ,

where r is the Cauchy stress of the 3-D element surface. In the

optimization procedure of a nonlinear function in Eq. (2), the
implemented quasi-Newton BFGS method [1720] avoids much
of the problems in computing a numerical Hessian. However, for
the optimization of Eq. (3), which is highly nonlinear, the solution
by means of a Newton scheme may ow into badly convergence
algorithm. In this study, an alternative approach is taken using a
genetic algorithm (GA) [21] to perform the search and optimizing
coordinate choice for expressing geometric elements.
GAs are stochastic and robust search techniques based on the
principles of evolution and natural genetics [22]. The GA employs
population of individuals, each of whom represents a possible
solution to the problem at hand. This population evolves through
the successive generations according to Darwinian genetic principles. The members of the population are evaluated by means of
a tness function. In our case, the tness function corresponds to J
given by (3), and the population of individuals are the different
values that can be adopted by the stress deviation. The tness
function provides a measure of performance of an individual,
which is used to bias the selection process in favor of the most t
members of the current population. The members undergo the
process of selection and recombination through probabilistic

Fig. 8. Initial shape conguration of the model example II (isometric view).

Fig. 9. Discretization of the model example II.

88

W. Punurai et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 58 (2012) 8490

techniques known as genetic operators, which include reproduction, crossover, and mutation. A new population is created in each
generation through replacement of old members with new
members, and the evolutionary process continues. The used GA
tool contains the elitist approach. This means that a solution
cannot degrade from one generation to the next, but the best
individual of generation is copied to the next generation without
any changes being made to it.
All the formulations and methods outlined were implemented in
MATLAB& . The parameters in GA tool menu in MATLAB& included:
Population Type, Double Vector; Population Size, 100; Creation
Function, Uniform; Scaling Function, Rank; Selection Function,
Stochastic Uniform; Crossover Fraction, 0.80; Mutation, Gaussian;
Crossover Function, Scattered; Algorithm Settings (Initial Penalty:
10, Penalty Factor: 100); Hybrid Function, None; Stopping Criteria
(Generations: 1000, Time Limit: Inf, Fitness Limit: Inf; Stall
Generations, 1000; Stall Time Limit, 20).
Fig. 1 shows an evolution process for nding an optimal cutting
pattern for a hyperbolic paraboloid type membrane structure. Fig. 2
shows the resulting convergence speed of the optimization process.
The points at the bottom denote the best tness values, while the
points above them denote the averages of the tness values in each
generation. The plot also displays the best and mean values in the
current generation numerically at the top. Typically, the best tness
value improves rapidly in the early generation, when the individuals
are farther from the optimum. The best tness values improve more
slowly in later generations (after 300), whose populations are closer
to the optimal point. Thus, the GA termination is getting when the
computation shows no more improvement of the best tness value

(500 generations or more). The results from the present study are
discussed in detail through examples in the subsequent section.

4. Numerical examples
In this section, numerical results of structural membrane examples are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed
method.

Fig. 12. Actual stress distributions of a quarter model example II.

Table 3
Comparison of membrane stress coefcients for model example.
Strip

Results

AVR1

AVR2

AVSD1

AVSD2

Kim and Lee [8]

Present work
Kim and Lee [8]
Present work
Kim and Lee [8]
Present work

1.005
0.990
0.999
0.981
0.999
0.988

1.010
1.009
0.999
1.020
1.001
1.010

0.043
0.024
0.043
0.021
0.158
0.056

0.046
0.022
0.044
0.022
0.164
0.052

b
c
Fig. 10. The cutting pattern strips layout for the model example II.

fill

warp

warp
fill
initial cutting pattern
optimum cutting pattern

fill

warp
Fig. 11. Initial and optimum cutting pattern for the model example II.

W. Punurai et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 58 (2012) 8490

4.1. Example I
This model example was considered in [8,23]. The model
represents a more realistic pre-stressed membrane. It is a hyperbolic paraboloid (HP) type membrane structure with four xed
corners composed of a fabric textile reinforced by means of cables

89

around the perimeter of the pre-stressed membrane as shown in

Fig. 3. According to Fig. 4, the mesh model is comprised of 400
membrane elements and 40 cable elements. It is assumed that the
design target stress is to be equal to 0.49 MPa in both ll and
warp directions. The compensation ratio of 1% is given to the
initial shape-pattern to introduce the pre-stress on each side. The

Fig. 13. Stress contour plots for strips (a), (b), and (c) of the model example II.

90

W. Punurai et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 58 (2012) 8490

properties of all materials are listed in Table 1. The results of an

initial shape-analysis, initial cutting pattern and an optimal
cutting pattern of a quarter model are shown in Figs. 5 and 6,
respectively.
As it can be observed, the change of actual stresses is expected
due to the curvature variation. Fig. 7 shows the actual membrane
stress distributions for the ll and warp directions.
For ease of use in comparison with the data obtained in this
study and in the literature, membrane stress coefcients are
dened as
P 0
P 0
9s11 s011 9
s
AVR1 P 11
P 0
; AVSD1
;
0

s11

P 0
s
AVR2 P 22
;
0

s22

s11

P
AVSD2

9s022 s022 9
,
P 0

s22

where subindices 1 and 2 indicate ll and warp directions;

stress distributions are sufciently closer to the assumed design

stresses when compared with those of the existing method. This
showed that the method presented in this work is feasible and
practical.

Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the support from Mahidol
University, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
(SIAM), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Consejo de Ciencia y
Tecnologa del Estado de Guanajuato (CONCYTEG), Mexico for
partially funding the visit of Dr. Wonsiri Punurai to Mexico under
the contract 09-02-K662-073.

References

s011 , s022 are the actual stresses; s011 , s022 are the design stresses;
AVR1, AVR2 are the average Cauchy stresses; AVSD1, AVSD2 are
the average deviation of Cauchy stresses. It is known that the
computation is best when the coefcients are getting closer to
1 and the AVSD coefcients are getting closer to 0.
Numerical comparisons of stress coefcients with the values
reported in references [8] and [23] are listed in Table 2. As can be
seen from Table 2, the deviations are considerably smaller.
4.2. Example II
A cone shape membrane model example was considered in [8].
The model structure shown in Fig. 8 consists of membrane panel,
catenary cables in boundaries and ridge cables between the
center point and xed boundaries. The material properties are
listed in Table 1. In the analysis, the initial stresses of 3.14 and
490 MPa and the compensation ratio of 1% are assigned to pretension the membrane and the cables, respectively. The structure
is then divided into 10 strips in order to perform the initial shapeanalysis and to obtain the target design stresses of 0.49 MPa as
shown in Fig. 9. The three strips (a), (b), and (c) are then selected
for the optimum cutting pattern as shown in Fig. 10. Fig. 11 shows
the extraction of strips, initial cutting pattern as well as the
optimized cutting pattern by the proposed method.
Fig. 12 shows the actual membrane stress distributions for the
ll and warp directions. Stress coefcients are also computed as
dened before (Eq. (4)). Thus, the numerical comparisons of stress
coefcients with [8] are listed in Table 3. It can be seen from the
table that the errors for average stresses in the presented method
are considerably smaller than those reported in Ref. [8]. Fig. 13
shows the resulting stress contour plots for strips (a), (b), and (c).
It is shown that all stresses are well distributed over most of the
membrane area. These results showed that the method presented
in this work is feasible and practical.

5. Conclusions
This study proposes a method to determine the optimum
cutting pattern to reduce the differences between the assumed
and the actual membrane stress. To validate the technique, two
membrane model structures of moderate curvature are analyzed.
Results from the analysis indicate that the stresses on the
equilibrated state are more uniformly distributed, and the nal

[1] M.R. Barnes, Form Finding and Analysis of Tension Structures by Dynamic
Relaxation, Ph.D. Thesis, University of London, 1977.
[2] L. Grundig, L. Ekert, E. Moncrieff, Geodesic and semi-geodesic line algorithms
for cutting pattern generation of architectural textile structures, in: Proceedings of the Asia-Pacic Conference on Shell and Spatial Structures, Beijing,
1996.
[3] H. Tsubota, A. Yoshida, Theoretical analysis of determining optimum cutting
patterns for membrane structures, in: Proceedings of the IASS Symposium,
vol. 3, Madrid, 1989, pp. 1115.
[4] T. Yagi, H. Ohmori, A new approach for cutting pattern analysis of membrane
structures, in: Proceedings of the IASS-LAS98 Conference, Sydney, vol. 2,
1998.
[5] T. Shimada, Y. Tada, Development of a curved surface using a nite element
method, in: International Conference on Computer Aided Optimum Design of
Structure, Southampton, 1989.
[6] B. Maurin, R. Motro, Surface stress density method as a form nding for
tensile membranes, Eng. Struct. 20 (1998) 712719.
[7] M. Ohsaki, J. Fujiwara, Developability conditions for prestress optimization
of a curved surface, Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 192 (2003)
7794.
[8] J.-Y. Kim, J.-B. Lee, A new technique for optimum cutting pattern generation
of membrane structures, Eng. Struct. 24 (2002) 745756.
[9] K.-U. Bletzinger, E. Ramm, A general nite element approach to the form
nding of tensile structures by the updated reference strategy, Int. J. Space
Struct. 14 (1999) 131146.
[10] K.-U. Bletzinger, J. Linhard, R. Wuchner, Extended and integrated numerical
form nding and patterning of membrane structures, J. IASS Struct. 50 (2009)
3549.
[11] M.H. Sadd, Elasticity. Theory, Applications, and Numerics, Elsevier, 2005.
[12] L.W. Ratner, Non-Linear Theory of Elasticity and Optimal Design, Elsevier,
2003.
[13] A. Gil, Structural analysis of prestressed Saint VenantKirchhoff hyperelastic
membranes subjected to moderate strains, Compos. Struct. 84 (2006)
10121028.
[14] K.J. Bathe, E. Ramm, E.L. Wilson, Finite element formulations for large
deformation dynamic analysis, Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 9 (1975)
353386.
[15] W. Punurai, W. Tongpool, W. Saardwong, An extended nonlinear-based
method for optimum cutting pattern generation of membrane structures,
in: AIP Conference Proceedings, vol. 1233, 2010, pp. 970975.
[16] A. Siev, J. Eidelman, Stress analysis of prestressed suspended roofs, Proc. Am.
Soc. Civ. Eng. 90 (1964) 103121.
[17] J. Nocedal, S.J. Wright, Numerical Optimization, 2nd ed., Springer, 2006.
[18] C.G. Broyden, The convergence of a class of double-rank minimization
algorithms, J. Inst. Math. Appl. 6 (1970) 7690.
[19] R. Fletcher, A new approach to variable metric algorithms, Comput. J. 13
(1970) 317322.
[20] D. Goldfarb, A family of variable metric updates derived by variational
means, Math. Comput. 24 (1970) 2326.
[21] M.A. Abramson, Genetic Algorithm and Direct Search Toolbox Users Guide,
The MathWorks Inc., 2007.
[22] M.D. Vose, The Simple Genetic Algorithm, MIT Press, 1999.
[23] E. Moncrieff, L. Grundig, D. Stroel, The cutting pattern generation of the
pilgrims tents for phase II of the mina valley project, in: IASS International
Symposium, vol. 1, Madrid, 1999, pp. C127C136.