An Adaptive Balance Optimization Algorithm and Its Engineering Application

The policy of balance between exploration capability and exploitation capability directly affects the solution performance of the meta-heuristic algorithm in a limited time. In order to better balance the exploration and exploitation capabilities of the algorithm and meet the solution requirements of complex real-world problems, the adaptive balance optimization algorithm (ABOA) is proposed in this paper. The algorithm consists of a global search phase (GSP) and a local search phase (LSP) and is controlled by a fixed parameter. ABOA not only considers the balance of exploration and exploitation capabilities of the algorithm throughout the whole iterative process but also focuses on the balance of exploration and exploitation in both GSP and LSP. The search in both phases is focused around the respective search centers from outside to inside. ABOA balances the exploration and exploitation capabilities of the algorithm throughout the search process by two adaptive policies: changing the search area and changing the search center. Fifty-two unconstrained benchmark test functions were employed to evaluate the performance of ABOA. The results of ABOA were compared with nine excellent optimization algorithms available in the literature. The statistical results and Friedman test showed that ABOA was significantly competitive. Finally, the results of the examined engineering design problems showed that ABOA can solve the constrained optimization problem better compared to other methods.