An enhanced hybrid arithmetic optimization algorithm for engineering applications

Arithmetic optimization algorithm (AOA) is a newly well-developed meta-heuristic algorithm that is inspired by the distribution behavior of main arithmetic operators in mathematics. Although the original AOA has shown well competitive performance with popular meta-heuristic algorithms, it still faces the issues of insufficient exploitation ability, ease of falling into local optima and low convergence accuracy in large-scale applications. In order to ameliorate these deficiencies, an enhanced hybrid AOA named CSOAOA, integrated with point set strategy, optimal neighborhood learning strategy and crisscross strategy, is developed in this paper. First, a good point set initialization strategy is added to obtain a higher-quality initial population, which improves the convergence speed of the algorithm. Then, the optimal neighborhood learning strategy is adopted to guide the individual’s search behavior and avoid the algorithm falling into the current local optimum, which boosts the search efficiency and calculation accuracy. Finally, by combining AOA with the crisscross optimization algorithm, the exploration and utilization ability of the crisscross algorithm are integrated into the CSOAOA. These strategies collaborate to enhance AOA in accelerating overall performance. The superiority of the proposed CSOAOA is comprehensively verified by comparing with the original AOA, six improved AOA and numerous celebrated and newly developed algorithms on the well-known 23 classical benchmark functions, IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC) 2019 test suite and IEEE CEC 2020 benchmark functions, respectively. Meanwhile, the practicability of CSOAOA is also highlighted by solving eight real-world engineering design problems. Furthermore, the statistical testing of CSOAOA has been conducted to validate its significance. Experimental results and statistical comparisons manifest the superior performance of CSOAOA over the comparison algorithms in terms of precision, convergence rate and solution quality. Therefore, CSOAOA is potentially a powerful and competitive meta-heuristic algorithm for solving complex engineering optimization problems.