A fuzzy reinforced Jaya algorithm for solving mathematical and structural optimization problems

Jaya is a metaheuristic algorithm that uses a pair of random internal parameters to adjust its exploration and exploitation search behaviors. Such a random setting can negatively affect the search performance of the algorithm by causing inappropriate search behavior in some iterations. To tackle this issue, the present study deals with developing a new fuzzy decision-making mechanism for dynamic adjusting the trade-off between the exploration and exploitation search behaviors of the Jaya method. The new algorithm is named Fuzzy Reinforced Jaya (FRJ) method. The search capability of the FRJ is evaluated in solving a suite of unconstrained mathematical benchmarks and constrained mechanical and structural optimization problems with buckling and natural frequency constraints. Also, the relevant decision variables are selected from both continuous and discrete domains. To provide a deeper insight into the effect of the defined auxiliary fuzzy module, the performance of the algorithm is evaluated and discussed using normalized diversity concept and behavioral diagrams. Also, employing different statistical analyses (e.g., Q – Q diagrams, Wilcoxson and Friedman tests), the significance of the outcomes is evaluated. Also, the numeric achievements are compared with six other well-stablished techniques. Attained outcomes indicate that the proposed FRJ, as a self-adaptive and parameter-free method, provides superior and promising results in the terms of stability, accuracy, and computational cost in solving mathematical and structural optimization problems.