Introduction to Optimum Design

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.

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.

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