Evaluation of Population-Based Metaheuristic Methods for Optimization of Truss Structures

This research critically compares the water evaporation optimization metaheuristic, the tug-of-war optimization metaheuristic, the vibration particle system metaheuristic, the cuckoo search metaheuristic, and the imperialist competition algorithm for truss sizing optimization problems which includes node displacements and member stress constraints. The evaluation is based on benchmarks with different design variables and static indeterminacy. A strict statistical study was conducted on a large sample size and events occurring through the optimization exercise was observed. This shows and explains the convergence performance of each algorithm. The results show that Cuckoo Search is the best metaheuristic in terms of robustness, performance, and ability to scale.