Marine Predators Algorithm for Sizing Optimization of Truss Structures with Continuous Variables

Abstract

In this study, the newly developed Marine Predators Algorithm (MPA) is formulated to minimize the weight of truss structures. MPA is a swarm-based metaheuristic algorithm inspired by the efficient foraging strategies of marine predators in oceanic environments. In order to assess the robustness of the proposed method, three normal-sized structural benchmarks (10-bar, 60-bar, and 120-bar spatial dome) and three large-scale structures (272-bar, 942-bar, and 4666-bar truss tower) were selected from the literature. Results point to the inherent strength of MPA against all state-of-the-art metaheuristic optimizers implemented so far. Moreover, for the first time in the field, a quantitative evaluation and an answer to the age-old question of the proper convergence behavior (exploration vs. exploitation balance) in the context of structural optimization is conducted. Therefore, a novel dimension-wise diversity index is adopted as a methodology to investigate each of the two schemes. It was concluded that the balance that produced the best results was about 90% exploitation and 10% exploration (on average for the entire computational process).