A novel improved whale optimization algorithm for optimization problems with multi-strategy and hybrid algorithm

Whale optimization algorithm (WOA), as an advanced optimization algorithm with simple structure, has been favored by various fields. However, there are some disadvantages of WOA, such as slow convergence speed, low precision and falling into local optimal value easily. In this paper, a novel improved whale optimization algorithm (IWOA) with multi-strategy and hybrid algorithm is proposed to overcome above shortcomings. Firstly, IWOA initializes the population by chaotic mapping to avoid the initial population distribution of WOA deviating from the optimal value. Secondly, IWOA combines the pheromone of the black widow algorithm and the opposition-based learning strategy to modify the population, which improves the convergence speed and the global performance of WOA respectively. Finally, the adaptive coefficients and the new update modes replace the original update modes, which makes the structure of WOA simpler and more accurate. In addition, the convergence of IWOA is also proved in this paper. On the one hand, to demonstrate the effectiveness of IWOA, 23 benchmark functions are used to test various performance of the algorithm. On the other hand, in order to prove the superiority of IWOA, the experimental results are compared and analyzed with other optimization algorithms. Simulation results show that IWOA proposed in this paper owns excellent performance in convergence speed, stability, accuracy and global performance, compared with other algorithms.