An efficient slime mould algorithm for solving multi-objective optimization problems

Abstract

Recently, the Slime mould algorithm (SMA) was proposed to solve the single-objective optimization problems. It is considered as a strong algorithm for its efficient global search capability. This paper presents a multi-objective optimization algorithm based on the SMA called multi-objective SMA (MOSMA). An external archive is utilized with the SMA to store the Pareto optimal solutions obtained. The archive applied to emulate the social behaviour of the slime mould in the multi-objective search space. The performance of the MOSMA is validated on the CEC’20 multi-objective benchmark test functions. Furthermore eight well-known of constrained and unconstrained test cases, four constrained engineering design problems are tested to demonstrate the MOSMA superiority. Moreover, the real-world multi-objective optimization of helical coil spring for automotive application to depict the reliability of the presented MOSMA to solve real-world problems. Over the statistical side, the Wilcoxon test and performance indicators are used to assess the effectiveness of MOSMA against six well-known and robust optimization algorithms: multi-objective grey wolf optimizer (MOGWO), multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO), multi-objective salp swarm algorithm (MSSA), Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm version 2 (NSGA-II), multi-objective whale optimization algorithm (MOWOA) and strength Pareto evolutionary algorithm 2 (SPEA2). The overall simulation results reveal that the proposed MOSMA has the ability to provide better solutions as compared to the other algorithms in terms of Pareto sets proximity (PSP) and inverted generational distance in decision space (IGDX) indicators.