Computational optimization strategies for the simulation of random media and components

In this paper efficient computational strategies are presented to speed‐up the analysis of random media and components. In particular, a Hybrid Stochastic Optimization (HSO) tool, based on the synergy between various algorithms, i.e. Genetic Algorithms, Simulated Annealing as well as Tabu‐list is suggested to reconstruct a set of microstructures starting from probabilistic descriptors. The subsequent analysis (e.g. Finite Element analysis) can be performed to obtain the desired macroscopic quantity of interest and, providing a link between the micro‐ and the macro‐scale. Different computational speed‐up strategies are also presented. The proposed simulation approach is highly parallelizable, flexible and scalable. It can be adopted by other fields as well where an optimization analysis is required and a set of different solutions should be identified in order to perform computational experiments. Numerical examples demonstrate the applicability of the proposed strategies for realistic problems.