Title: GATE: a genetic algorithm designed for expensive cost functions

Authors: Stéphane Dominique; Jean-Yves Trépanier; Christophe Tribes

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal, 2500, chemin de Polytechnique, Montréal (Québec), H3T 1J4, Canada. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal, 2500, chemin de Polytechnique, Montréal (Québec), H3T 1J4, Canada. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal, 2500, chemin de Polytechnique, Montréal (Québec), H3T 1J4, Canada

Abstract: The present paper introduces the GATE algorithm, which was specifically designed to lessen the cost of GAs for engineering design problems. The main strength of the algorithm is to find a good design using a relatively low number of function evaluations. The heart of the algorithm is a new heuristic called territorial core evolution (TE). TE regulates the mean step and the permitted search area of the GAs| random search operators, depending on the state of convergence of the algorithm. As a result, more global or more local searches are made when necessary to better fit the specificities of each problem. GATE, which was initially calibrated using a Gaussian landscape generator as test case, is shown to be very efficient to solve that kind of topology, especially for large scale problems. Application of the GATE algorithm to various classical test cases allows a better understanding of the strengths and limitations of this algorithm.

Keywords: optimisation; genetic algorithms; territorial core evolution; large scale design problems; academic test cases; engineering design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMNO.2012.044711

International Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Optimisation, 2012 Vol.3 No.1/2, pp.5 - 29

Published online: 20 Aug 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article