Design optimization of an L-shaped extrusion die

It is an important problem in the polymer extrusion of complex profiles to balance the flow at the die exit. In this paper, we employ simulated anneal ing-kriging meta-algorithm to optimize the geometric parameters of a die channel to obtain a uniform exit velocity distribution. Design variables for our optimization problem involve the suitable geometric parameters for the die design, which are the thickness of the large channel and the length of the narrow channel. Die balance is based on the deviation of the velocity with respect to the average velocity at the die exit. So the cost function for the optimization problem involves the minimization of this deviation, For the design of numerical experiments, we use Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) to construct the kriging model. Then, based on the LHS points, the numerical solutions are performed using Polyflow, a commercial software based on the finite element method and is specifically designed to simulate the flow and heat transfer of non-newtonian, viscoelastic fluids. In our simulations, a HDPE (high density polyethylene) is used as extrusion material. Having obtained numerical simulations for N=60 LHS points in two-dimensional parameter space (t and L), the optimization of these parameters is carried out by Simulated Annealing (SA) method in conjunction with kriging model. We show that kriging model employed in SA algorithm can be used to optimize the die geometry.