A Comparative Study of Metaheuristic Optimization Algorithms for Solving Real-World Engineering Design Problems

Real-world engineering design problems with complex objective functions under some constraints are relatively difficult problems to solve.Such design problems are widely experienced in many engineering fields,such as industry,automotive,construction,machinery,and interdisciplinary research.However,there are established optimization techniques that have shown effectiveness in addressing these types of issues.This research paper gives a comparative study of the implementation of seventeen new metaheuristic methods in order to optimize twelve distinct engineering design issues.The algorithms used in the study are listed as:transient search optimization(TSO),equilibrium optimizer(EO),grey wolf optimizer(GWO),moth-flame optimization(MFO),whale optimization algorithm(WOA),slimemould algorithm(SMA),harris hawks optimization(HHO),chimp optimization algorithm(COA),coot optimization algorithm(COOT),multi-verse optimization(MVO),arithmetic optimization algorithm(AOA),aquila optimizer(AO),sine cosine algorithm(SCA),smell agent optimization(SAO),and seagull optimization algorithm(SOA),pelican optimization algorithm(POA),and coati optimization algorithm(CA).As far as we know,there is no comparative analysis of recent and popular methods against the concrete conditions of real-world engineering problems.Hence,a remarkable research guideline is presented in the study for researchersworking in the fields of engineering and artificial intelligence,especiallywhen applying the optimization methods that have emerged recently.Future research can rely on this work for a literature search on comparisons of metaheuristic optimization methods in real-world problems under similar conditions.

Uniaxial Compressive Strength Prediction for Rock Material in Deep Mine Using Boosting-Based Machine Learning Methods and Optimization Algorithms

Traditional laboratory tests for measuring rock uniaxial compressive strength(UCS)are tedious and timeconsuming.There is a pressing need for more effective methods to determine rock UCS,especially in deep mining environments under high in-situ stress.Thus,this study aims to develop an advanced model for predicting the UCS of rockmaterial in deepmining environments by combining three boosting-basedmachine learning methods with four optimization algorithms.For this purpose,the Lead-Zinc mine in Southwest China is considered as the case study.Rock density,P-wave velocity,and point load strength index are used as input variables,and UCS is regarded as the output.Subsequently,twelve hybrid predictive models are obtained.Root mean square error(RMSE),mean absolute error(MAE),coefficient of determination(R2),and the proportion of the mean absolute percentage error less than 20%(A-20)are selected as the evaluation metrics.Experimental results showed that the hybridmodel consisting of the extreme gradient boostingmethod and the artificial bee colony algorithm(XGBoost-ABC)achieved satisfactory results on the training dataset and exhibited the best generalization performance on the testing dataset.The values of R2,A-20,RMSE,and MAE on the training dataset are 0.98,1.0,3.11 MPa,and 2.23MPa,respectively.The highest values of R2 and A-20(0.93 and 0.96),and the smallest RMSE and MAE values of 4.78 MPa and 3.76MPa,are observed on the testing dataset.The proposed hybrid model can be considered a reliable and effective method for predicting rock UCS in deep mines.

Landslide susceptibility mapping(LSM)based on different boosting and hyperparameter optimization algorithms:A case of Wanzhou District,China

Boosting algorithms have been widely utilized in the development of landslide susceptibility mapping(LSM)studies.However,these algorithms possess distinct computational strategies and hyperparameters,making it challenging to propose an ideal LSM model.To investigate the impact of different boosting algorithms and hyperparameter optimization algorithms on LSM,this study constructed a geospatial database comprising 12 conditioning factors,such as elevation,stratum,and annual average rainfall.The XGBoost(XGB),LightGBM(LGBM),and CatBoost(CB)algorithms were employed to construct the LSM model.Furthermore,the Bayesian optimization(BO),particle swarm optimization(PSO),and Hyperband optimization(HO)algorithms were applied to optimizing the LSM model.The boosting algorithms exhibited varying performances,with CB demonstrating the highest precision,followed by LGBM,and XGB showing poorer precision.Additionally,the hyperparameter optimization algorithms displayed different performances,with HO outperforming PSO and BO showing poorer performance.The HO-CB model achieved the highest precision,boasting an accuracy of 0.764,an F1-score of 0.777,an area under the curve(AUC)value of 0.837 for the training set,and an AUC value of 0.863 for the test set.The model was interpreted using SHapley Additive exPlanations(SHAP),revealing that slope,curvature,topographic wetness index(TWI),degree of relief,and elevation significantly influenced landslides in the study area.This study offers a scientific reference for LSM and disaster prevention research.This study examines the utilization of various boosting algorithms and hyperparameter optimization algorithms in Wanzhou District.It proposes the HO-CB-SHAP framework as an effective approach to accurately forecast landslide disasters and interpret LSM models.However,limitations exist concerning the generalizability of the model and the data processing,which require further exploration in subsequent studies.

Multi-strategy hybrid whale optimization algorithms for complex constrained optimization problems

A multi-strategy hybrid whale optimization algorithm(MSHWOA)for complex constrained optimization problems is proposed to overcome the drawbacks of easily trapping into local optimum,slow convergence speed and low optimization precision.Firstly,the population is initialized by introducing the theory of good point set,which increases the randomness and diversity of the population and lays the foundation for the global optimization of the algorithm.Then,a novel linearly update equation of convergence factor is designed to coordinate the abilities of exploration and exploitation.At the same time,the global exploration and local exploitation capabilities are improved through the siege mechanism of Harris Hawks optimization algorithm.Finally,the simulation experiments are conducted on the 6 benchmark functions and Wilcoxon rank sum test to evaluate the optimization performance of the improved algorithm.The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has more significant improvement in optimization accuracy,convergence speed and robustness than the comparison algorithm.

Optimization Algorithms for Sidelobes SSL Reduction: A Comparative Study

The development of new technologies in smart cities is often hailed as it becomes a necessity to solve many problems like energy consumption and transportation. Wireless networks are part of these technologies but implementation of several antennas, using different frequency bandwidths for many applications might introduce a negative effect on human health security. In wireless networks, most antennas generate sidelobes SSL. SSL causes interference and can be an additional resource for RF power that can affect human being health. This paper aims to study algorithms that can reduce SSL. The study concerns typical uniform linear antenna arrays. Different optimum side lobe level reduction algorithms are presented. Genetic algorithm GA, Chebyshev, and Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm are used in the optimization process. A comparative study between the indicated algorithms in terms of stability, precision, and running time is shown. Results show that using these algorithms in optimizing antenna parameters can reduce SSL. A comparison of these algorithms is carried out and results show the difference between them in terms of running time and SSL reduction Level.

Comparative Analysis for Evaluating Wind Energy Resources Using Intelligent Optimization Algorithms and Numerical Methods

Statistical distributions are used to model wind speed,and the twoparameters Weibull distribution has proven its effectiveness at characterizing wind speed.Accurate estimation of Weibull parameters,the scale(c)and shape(k),is crucial in describing the actual wind speed data and evaluating the wind energy potential.Therefore,this study compares the most common conventional numerical(CN)estimation methods and the recent intelligent optimization algorithms(IOA)to show how precise estimation of c and k affects the wind energy resource assessments.In addition,this study conducts technical and economic feasibility studies for five sites in the northern part of Saudi Arabia,namely Aljouf,Rafha,Tabuk,Turaif,and Yanbo.Results exhibit that IOAs have better performance in attaining optimal Weibull parameters and provided an adequate description of the observed wind speed data.Also,with six wind turbine technologies rating between 1 and 3MW,the technical and economic assessment results reveal that the CN methods tend to overestimate the energy output and underestimate the cost of energy($/kWh)compared to the assessments by IOAs.The energy cost analyses show that Turaif is the windiest site,with an electricity cost of$0.016906/kWh.The highest wind energy output is obtained with the wind turbine having a rated power of 2.5 MW at all considered sites with electricity costs not exceeding$0.02739/kWh.Finally,the outcomes of this study exhibit the potential of wind energy in Saudi Arabia,and its environmental goals can be acquired by harvesting wind energy.

Assessment of Different Optimization Algorithms for a Thermal Conduction Problem

In this study,three computational approaches for the optimization of a thermal conduction problem are critically compared.These include a Direct Method(DM),a Genetic Algorithm(GA),and a Pattern Search(PS)technique.The optimization aims to minimize the maximum temperature of a hot medium(a medium with uniform heat generation)using a constant amount of high conductivity materials(playing the role of fixed factor constraining the considered problem).The principal goal of this paper is to determine the most efficient and fastest option among the considered ones.It is shown that the examined three methods approximately lead to the same result in terms of maximum tem-perature.However,when the number of optimization variables is low,the DM is the fastest one.An increment in the complexity of the design and the number of degrees of freedom(DOF)can make the DM impractical.Results also show that the PS algorithm becomes faster than the GA as the number of variables for the optimization rises.

Sequencing Mixed-model Production Systems by Modified Multi-objective Genetic Algorithms

As two independent problems,scheduling for parts fabrication line and sequencing for mixed-model assembly line have been addressed respectively by many researchers.However,these two problems should be considered simultaneously to improve the efficiency of the whole fabrication/assembly systems.By far,little research effort is devoted to sequencing problems for mixed-model fabrication/assembly systems.This paper is concerned about the sequencing problems in pull production systems which are composed of one mixed-model assembly line with limited intermediate buffers and two flexible parts fabrication flow lines with identical parallel machines and limited intermediate buffers.Two objectives are considered simultaneously：minimizing the total variation in parts consumption in the assembly line and minimizing the total makespan cost in the fabrication/assembly system.The integrated optimization framework,mathematical models and the method to construct the complete schedules for the fabrication lines according to the production sequences for the first stage in fabrication lines are presented.Since the above problems are non-deterministic polynomial-hard（NP-hard）,a modified multi-objective genetic algorithm is proposed for solving the models,in which a method to generate the production sequences for the fabrication lines from the production sequences for the assembly line and a method to generate the initial population are put forward,new selection,crossover and mutation operators are designed,and Pareto ranking method and sharing function method are employed to evaluate the individuals＇ fitness.The feasibility and efficiency of the multi-objective genetic algorithm is shown by computational comparison with a multi-objective simulated annealing algorithm.The sequencing problems for mixed-model production systems can be solved effectively by the proposed modified multi-objective genetic algorithm.

Automatic DNA sequencing for electrophoresis gels using image processing algorithms

DNA electrophoresis gel is an important biologically experimental technique and DNA sequencing can be defined by it. Traditionally, it is time consuming for biologists to exam the gel images by their eyes and often has human errors during the process. Therefore, automatic analysis of the gel image could provide more information that is usually ignored by human expert. However, basic tasks such as the identification of lanes in a gel image, easily done by human experts, emerge as problems that may be difficult to be executed automatically. In this paper, we design an automatic procedure to analyze DNA gel images using various image processing algorithms. Firstly, we employ an enhanced fuzzy c-means algorithm to extract the useful information from DNA gel images and exclude the undesired background. Then, Gaussian function is utilized to estimate the location of each lane of A, T, C, and G on the gels images automatically. Finally, the location of each band on the gel image can be detected accurately by tracing lanes, renewing lost bands, and eliminating repetitive bands.

EXPERIMENTS TO TRACK STORMS USING MODERN OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHMS

Storm identification and tracking based on weather radar data are essential to nowcasting and severe weather warning. A new two-dimensional storm identification method simultaneously seeking in two directions is proposed, and identification results are used to discuss storm tracking algorithms. Three modern optimization algorithms （simulated annealing algorithm, genetic algorithm and ant colony algorithm） are tested to match storms in successive time intervals. Preliminary results indicate that the simulated annealing algorithm and ant colony algorithm are effective and have intuitionally adjustable parameters, whereas the genetic algorithm is unsatisfaetorily constrained by the mode of genetic operations Experiments provide not only the feasibility and characteristics of storm tracking with modern optimization algorithms, but also references for studies and applications in relevant fields.

Migrating Birds Optimization for Flow Shop Sequencing Problem

FSSP is a typical NP-Hard problem which is desired to be minimum makespan. This study consid- ers Migrating Birds Optimization (MBO) which is metaheuristic approach for the solution of Flow Shop Sequencing Problem (FSSP). As the basic MBO algorithm is designed for discrete problems. The performance of basic MBO algorithm is tested via some FSSP data sets exist in literature. Obtained results are compared with optimal results of related data sets.

Pick sequencing optimization problem in the rotary rack S/R system

The problem of pick sequencing in the rotary rack S/R system (PPS-RRS) is investigated with the objective of minimizing the execution time. The rotary rack S/R system consists of one S/R machine and multiple levels of carousels that can rotate independently in bi-directions. The routing policy, namely the decision on the storage or retrieval sequence, dominates the efficiency and the throughput for such S/R systems, due to the complicated relationship between all levels of carousels and the S/R machine. For the purpose of optimizing the PPS-RRS, a computational model is developed in terms of execution time for picking multiple items in one trip. Characteristics of the PPS-RRS are analyzed and a local search heuristic based on a newly proposed neighborhood is presented. Integrated with the proposed local search procedure a new hybrid genetic algorithm is developed. Experimental results demonstrate the structure characteristics of good sequence and the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed sequencing algorithms.

Modeling and Optimisation of Precedence-Constrained Production Sequencing and Scheduling for Multiple Production Lines Using Genetic Algorithms

This paper presents an integrated methodology for the modelling and optimisation of precedence-constrained production sequencing and scheduling for multiple production lines based on Genetic Algorithms （GA）. The problems in this class are NP-hard combinatorial problems, requiring a triple optimisation at the same time： allocation of resources to each line, production sequencing and production scheduling within each production line. They are ubiquitous to production and manufacturing environments. Due to nature of constraints, the length of solutions for the problem can be variable. To cope with this variability, new strategies for encoding chromosomes, crossover and mutation operations have been developed. Robustness of the proposed GA is demonstrated by a complex and realistic case study.

Performance Evaluation and Comparison of Multi - Objective Optimization Algorithms for the Analytical Design of Switched Reluctance Machines

This paper systematically evaluates and compares three well-engineered and popular multi-objective optimization algorithms for the design of switched reluctance machines.The multi-physics and multi-objective nature of electric machine design problems are discussed,followed by benchmark studies comparing generic algorithms(GA),differential evolution(DE)algorithms and particle swarm optimizations(PSO)on a 6/4 switched reluctance machine design with seven independent variables and a strong nonlinear multi-objective Pareto front.To better quantify the quality of the Pareto fronts,five primary quality indicators are employed to serve as the algorithm testing metrics.The results show that the three algorithms have similar performances when the optimization employs only a small number of candidate designs or ultimately,a significant amount of candidate designs.However,DE tends to perform better in terms of convergence speed and the quality of Pareto front when a relatively modest amount of candidates are considered.

Intelligent Optimization Algorithms to VDA of Models with on/off Parameterizations

Some variational data assimilation （VDA） problems of time- and space-discrete models with on/off parameterizations can be regarded as non-smooth optimization problems. Same as the sub-gradient type method, intelligent optimization algorithms, which are widely used in engineering optimization, can also be adopted in VDA in virtue of their no requirement of cost function＇s gradient （or sub-gradient） and their capability of global convergence. Two typical intelligent optimization algorithms, genetic algorithm （GA） and particle swarm optimization （PSO）, are introduced to VDA of modified Lorenz equations with on-off parameterizations, then two VDA schemes are proposed, that is, GA based VDA （GA-VDA） and PSO based VDA （PSO-VDA）. After revealing the advantage of GA and PSO over conventional adjoint methods in the ability of global searching at the existence of cost function＇s discontinuity induced by on-off switches, sensitivities of GA-VDA and PSO-VDA to population size, observational noise, model error and observational density are detailedly analyzed. It＇s shown that, in the context of modified Lorenz equations, with proper population size, GA-VDA and PSO-VDA can effectively estimate the global optimal solution, while PSO-VDA consumes much less computational time than GA-VDA with the same population size, and requires a much lower population size with nearly the same results, both methods are not very sensitive to observation noise and model error, while PSO-VDA shows a better performance with observational noise than GA-VDA. It is encouraging that both methods are not sensitive to observational density, especially PSO-VDA, using which almost the same perfect assimilation results can be obtained with comparatively sparse observations.

A performance comparison of multi-objective optimization algorithms for solving nearly-zero-energy-building design problems

Integrated building design is inherently a multi-objective optimization problem where two or more conflicting objectives must be minimized and/or maximized concurrently.Many multi-objective optimization algorithms have been developed;however few of them are tested in solving building design problems.This paper compares performance of seven commonly-used multi-objective evolutionary optimization algorithms in solving the design problem of a nearly zero energy building(n ZEB) where more than 1.610 solutions would be possible.The compared algorithms include a controlled non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm witha passive archive(p NSGA-II),a multi-objective particle swarm optimization(MOPSO),a two-phase optimization using the genetic algorithm(PR_GA),an elitist non-dominated sorting evolution strategy(ENSES),a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on the concept of epsilon dominance(ev MOGA),a multi-objective differential evolution algorithm(sp MODE-II),and a multi-objective dragonfly algorithm(MODA).Several criteria was used to compare performance of these algorithms.In most cases,the quality of the obtained solutions was improved when the number of generations was increased.The optimization results of running each algorithm20 times with gradually increasing number of evaluations indicated that the PR_GA algorithm had a high repeatability to explore a large area of the solution-space and achieved close-to-optimal solutions with a good diversity,followed by the p NSGA-II,ev MOGA and sp MODE-II.Uncompetitive results were achieved by the ENSES,MOPSO and MODA in most running cases.The study also found that 1400-1800 were minimum required number of evaluations to stabilize optimization results of the building energy model.

Short-term forecasting optimization algorithms for wind speed along Qinghai-Tibet railway based on different intelligent modeling theories

To protect trains against strong cross-wind along Qinghai-Tibet railway, a strong wind speed monitoring and warning system was developed. And to obtain high-precision wind speed short-term forecasting values for the system to make more accurate scheduling decision, two optimization algorithms were proposed. Using them to make calculative examples for actual wind speed time series from the 18th meteorological station, the results show that: the optimization algorithm based on wavelet analysis method and improved time series analysis method can attain high-precision multi-step forecasting values, the mean relative errors of one-step, three-step, five-step and ten-step forecasting are only 0.30%, 0.75%, 1.15% and 1.65%, respectively. The optimization algorithm based on wavelet analysis method and Kalman time series analysis method can obtain high-precision one-step forecasting values, the mean relative error of one-step forecasting is reduced by 61.67% to 0.115%. The two optimization algorithms both maintain the modeling simple character, and can attain prediction explicit equations after modeling calculation.

A comparative study of optimization algorithms for wavefront shaping

By manipulating the phase map of a wavefront of light using a spatial light modulator,the scattered light can be sharply focused on a specific target.Several iterative optimization algo-rithrns for obtaining the optimumn phase map have been explored.However,there has not been a comparative study on the performance of these algorithms.In this paper,six optimization algorithms for wavefront shaping inchuding continuous sequential,partitioning algorithm,transmission matrix estimation method,particle swarm optimization,genetic algorithm(GA),and simulated annealing(SA)are discussed and compared based on their efficiency when introduced with various measurement noise levels.

Multi-swingby optimization of mission to Saturn using global optimization algorithms

Based on the trajectory design of a mission to Saturn, this paper discusses four different trajectories in various swingby cases. We assume a single impulse to be applied in each case when the spacecraft approaches a celestial body. Some optimal trajectories ofEJS, EMS, EVEJS and EVVEJS flying sequences are obtained using five global optimization algorithms： DE, PSO, DP, the hybrid algorithm PSODE and another hybrid algorithm, DPDE. DE is proved to be supe- rior to other non-hybrid algorithms in the trajectory optimi- zation problem. The hybrid algorithm of PSO and DE can improve the optimization performance of DE, which is vali- dated by the mission to Saturn with given swingby sequences. Finally, the optimization results of four different swingby sequences are compared with those of the ACT of ESA.

ANew Theoretical Framework forAnalyzing Stochastic Global Optimization Algorithms

In this paper, we develop a new theoretical framework by means of the absorbing Markov process theory for analyzing some stochastic global optimization algorithms. Applying the framework to the pure random search, we prove that the pure random search converges to the global minimum in probability and its time has geometry distribution. We also analyze the pure adaptive search by this framework and turn out that the pure adaptive search converges to the global minimum in probability and its time has Poisson distribution.