Design optimization of deep-seabed pilot miner system with coupled relations between constraints

Abstract

In the pilot miner system, the hydraulic type collector is sensitive to the traffic ability of moving on cohesive soil. Therefore, the traffic ability needs to be simultaneously considered with collector performances in the design process. This means that the system has coupled disciplines and constraints, which can reduce the size of the feasible region, rendering it difficult to use the current optimization techniques to search the optimum satisfying all of the constraints. In this study, a new technique which stochastically explores the optimum point with the highest probability, improving the objective and satisfying the constraints, is applied to the design of a deep-seabed pilot miner system.