Comparison of metaheuristic optimization algorithms for solving constrained mechanical design optimization problems

•Nine recent meta-heuristics are used to optimize eight mechanical design problems.•Theoretical and numerical comparisons are extensively investigated.•The results show the merits of the methods used in solving the case studies. Determining the solution for real mechanical design problems is a challenging task when using the newly developed and efficient swarm intelligence algorithms. There are so many difficulties to be addressed, including but not limited to mixed decision variables, diverse constraints, inherent errors, conflicting objectives, and numerous locally optimal solutions. This work analyzes the behavior of nine metaheuristic algorithms, namely, salp swarm algorithm (SSA), multi-verse optimizer (MVO), moth-flame optimizer (MFO), atom search optimization (ASO), ecogeography-based optimization (EBO), queuing search algorithm (QSA), equilibrium optimizer (EO), evolutionary strategy (ES) and hybrid self-adaptive orthogonal genetic algorithm (HSOGA). The efficiency of these algorithms is evaluated on eight mechanical design problems using the solution quality and convergence analysis, which verifies the wide applicability of these algorithms to real-world application problems.