A SIMULATION-BASED OPTIMIZATION APPROACH TO POLYMER EXTRUSION FILTER DESIGN

摘要

In this work, we propose methods for evaluating filter performance and use these methods in an optimization framework to find parameters that maximize the lifetime of the filter while minimizing the amount of debris that escapes. We couple a three-dimensional computational tool that models the deposition process within the filter with optimization algorithms that use the output from the simulator to search the design space. This is a difficult problem that is not described by a differentiable function, since function evaluations are given by a 'black-box' simulator. We apply derivative-free techniques to analyze the behaviour of the filter and to gain insight into effective filter design. We discuss these techniques, along with our approaches to the mathematical formulation, and present numerical results and discuss future directions for this work.