Designing Paper Machine Headbox Using GA

Abstract

A non-smooth biobjective optimization problem for designing the shape of a slice channel in a paper machine headbox is described. The conflicting goals defining the optimization problem are the ones determining important quality properties of produced paper: 1) basis weight should be even and 2) the wood fibers of paper should mainly be oriented to the machine direction across the width of the whole paper machine. The novelty of the considered approach is that maximum deviations are used instead of least squares when objective functions are formed. For the solution of this problem, a multiobjective genetic algorithm based on nondominated sorting is considered. The numerical results demonstrate the ability to obtain a large set of nondominated designs.

Key Words:

• Multiobjective optimization
• Optimal shape design
• Paper machine headbox
• Genetic algorithm

Acknowledgments

The research has been supported by the Technology Development Center of Finland and the Academy of Finland, grants #53588, #65760 and #66407.