Introduction to Optimum Design

by Jasbir Singh Arora F. Wendell Miller Distinguished Professor, Emeritus

Overview

**2025 Textbook and Academic Authors Association (TAA) McGuffey Longevity Award Winner**

Introduction to Optimum Design, Fifth Edition is the most widely used textbook in engineering optimization and optimum design courses. It is intended for use in a first course on engineering design and optimization at the undergraduate or graduate level within engineering departments of all disciplines, but primarily within mechanical, aerospace and civil engineering. The basic approach of the text presents an organized approach to engineering design optimization in a rigorous yet simplified manner, illustrating various concepts and procedures with simple examples and demonstrating their applicability to engineering design problems. Formulation of a design problem as an optimization problem is emphasized and illustrated throughout the text. Excel and MATLAB are featured as learning and teaching aids. This new edition has been enhanced with new or expanded content in such areas as reliability‐based optimization, metamodeling, design of experiments, robust design, nature-inspired metaheuristic search methods, and combinatorial optimizaton.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780128183205
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	02/26/2024
Edition description:	5th ed.
Pages:	1120
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dr. Arora is the F. Wendell Miller Distinguished Professor, Emeritus, of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Iowa. He was also Director of the Optimal Design Laboratory and Associate Director of the Center for Computer Aided Design. He is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of optimization, numerical analysis, and real-time implementation. His research interests include optimization-based digital human modeling, dynamic response optimization, optimal control of systems, design sensitivity analysis and optimization of nonlinear systems, and parallel optimization algorithms. Dr. Arora has authored two books, co-authored or edited five others, written 160 journal articles, 27 book chapters, 130 conference papers, and more than 300 technical reports.

Table of Contents

THE BASIC CONCEPTS
1. Introduction to Design Optimization
2. Optimum Design Problem Formulation
3. Graphical Solution Method and Basic Optimization Concepts
4. Optimum Design Concepts: Optimality Conditions
5. More on Optimum Design Concepts: Optimality Conditions

NUMERICAL METHODS FOR CONTINUOUS VARIABLE OPTIMIZATION
6. Optimum Design: Numerical Solution Process and Excel Solver
7. Optimum Design with MATLAB®
8. Linear Programming Methods for Optimum Design
9. More on Linear Programming Methods for Optimum Design
10. Numerical Methods for Unconstrained Optimum Design
11. More on Numerical Methods for Unconstrained Optimum Design
12. Numerical Methods for Constrained Optimum Design
13. More on Numerical Methods for Constrained Optimum Design
14. Practical Applications of Optimization

ADVANCED AND MODERN TOPICS ON OPTIMUM DESIGN
15. Discrete Variable Optimum Design Concepts and Methods
16. Global Optimization: Concepts and Methods
17. Nature-inspired Metaheuristic Search Methods
18. Multi-Objective Optimum Design Concepts and Methods
19. Introduction to Design Under Uncertainty: Reliability-Based Design Optimization
20. Metamodels for Design Optimization: Response Surface Method
21. Robust Design and Optimization - An Introduction
22. Design of Experiments - An Introduction

Appendix A. Vector and Matrix Algebra
Appendix B. Sample Computer Programs

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Bestselling textbook on optimum design that enables instructors to teach optimization at any level of the engineering curriculum

Editorial Reviews

"I feel that Dr. Arora presented significant amounts of material in a clear and straightforward manner. The book is definitely a reference that practitioners would like to have and depend upon, especially with the plethora of examples and applications. As an educator, Dr. Arora’s book also has a tremendous number of problems at the end of the chapters and examples that I would try to use in class...the book is a solid introduction to optimization algorithms." - Georges Fadel, Associate Editor, Journal of Mechanical Design "Arora’s introduction of a much-anticipated second edition of Introduction to Optimum Design will not only satisfy established users of his well-received first edition, but moreover, significant updates, supplementary material, and fine-tuning of the pedagogical aspects of the presentation will certainly broaden its appeal…among some of the distinguishing characteristics of Arora’s book are its adaptability to audiences with diverse backgrounds, as well as the extent to which it makes the topic clear and approachable...The book would also be excellent as a self-study reference for the practicing engineer…In summary, when considering the pedagogical refinements of the book, the expanded and updated software examples, as well as the extended survey of emerging computational methods, Arora’s Introduction to Optimum Design, 2nd Ed., furthers its goal ofdescribing engineering design optimization in a rigorous yet simplified manner which is both highly accessible to and useful for a wide audience." - David F. Thompson, Graduate Program Director, University of Cincinnati"I have used several optmization books over the past 10 years to support my various graduate optimization courses. Of all the books that I have used, I prefer Dr. Arora’s Introduction to Optimum Design, 2nd Ed…The strength of this book lies in his attention to detail using numeric exercises to demonstrate the numerical processes used in the various optimization methods. I particularly like his choice of nomenclature throughout the book, as it conforms to the standard symbols and function names used in classical optimization literature. The application exercises presented cover a broad range in technologies, which makes it a good textbook for any engineering discipline." - Tom R. Mincer, California State University"...this book is well written and covers just about every topic that one needs to know about the optimum design process. It includes a good balance of theory and application. The book will therefore be appealing to all users." - Practice Periodical On Structural Design and Construction - ASCE, Nov. 2005

From the Publisher