Scientific Reports Article Analysis
A Geometric Whale Optimization Algorithm with Triangular Flight for Numerical Optimization and Engineering Design
The Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) faces significant challenges in complex optimization, including premature convergence and imbalanced exploration-exploitation. To address this, we developed the Geometric Whale Optimization Algorithm with Triangular Flight (ESTGWOA), integrating five novel geometric strategies: Good Nodes Set Initialization for diverse populations, Elite Guided Search for balanced exploration, redesigned Spiral-based Encircling Prey and Triangular-based Spiral Hunting for enhanced local search and local optima escape, and Hybrid Gaussian Mutation for increased diversity. A new Sigmoid-based convergence factor also optimizes exploration-exploitation balance. Our comprehensive experiments on 23 benchmark functions and 7 real-world engineering design problems demonstrate that ESTGWOA achieves an outstanding 97.10% overall effectiveness, consistently outperforming state-of-the-art metaheuristic algorithms in accuracy and stability. These results, verified by rigorous statistical tests, position ESTGWOA as a robust and reliable solution for complex continuous engineering design challenges.
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Enhanced Population Initialization for Broader Exploration
The Good Nodes Set (GNS) Initialization technique overcomes the limitations of traditional pseudo-random initialization, which often leads to limited diversity and uneven spatial coverage. By systematically generating uniformly distributed candidate solutions, GNS significantly enhances the quality of the initial population.
Enterprise Relevance: For complex enterprise problems, ensuring a diverse and well-distributed initial solution space is crucial for avoiding premature convergence and discovering truly optimal solutions from the outset.
Intelligent Search Guidance for Balanced Exploration-Exploitation
The Elite Guided Search (EGS) strategy replaces the original WOA's random search by guiding whales towards both the current best solution (elite) and the average position of the entire population. This dynamic approach ensures a more balanced transition between global exploration and local exploitation.
Enterprise Relevance: This mechanism improves the algorithm's convergence speed and accuracy by leveraging collective population intelligence, making search trajectories more purposeful and stable, especially critical in time-sensitive industrial optimization.
Advanced Spiral Strategies for Local Optima Escape
The Spiral-based Encircling Prey (SEP) introduces periodicity and randomness through a cosine oscillation term, enabling deeper local exploration. Further, the Triangular-based Spiral Hunting (TSH) strategy refines this with dynamic scaling and asymmetric disturbances, creating more complex and diversified search paths.
Enterprise Relevance: In multi-modal landscapes common in engineering design, these strategies are vital for preventing entrapment in local optima and continuously exploring better solutions, ensuring robust and comprehensive search capabilities.
Reinforced Diversity and Robustness with Hybrid Mutation
Post-position update, the Hybrid Gaussian Mutation (HGM), based on Differential Evolution, introduces random disturbances of varying scales. This mechanism is critical for increasing population diversity, allowing individuals to escape from locked regions or local optima that might otherwise halt progress.
Enterprise Relevance: This strategy directly combats premature convergence in high-dimensional or rugged optimization landscapes, ensuring the algorithm maintains its exploratory potential even in later stages of optimization, leading to higher quality final solutions.
Dynamic Control of Exploration-Exploitation Balance
A novel Sigmoid-based Convergence Factor (SCF) replaces the traditional linear factor. Its S-shaped curve (slow decline initially, sharp drop in the middle, and slow reduction at the end) dynamically adjusts the exploration-exploitation balance throughout the optimization process.
Enterprise Relevance: This flexible adjustment of search behavior allows ESTGWOA to aggressively explore in early stages, transition efficiently to exploitation, and prevent stagnation, providing a fine-tuned approach to complex problem-solving in dynamic environments.
Enterprise Process Flow: ESTGWOA Methodology
| Algorithm | Average Friedman Rank (Dim=30) | Average Friedman Rank (Dim=50) | Average Friedman Rank (Dim=100) | Key Advantages of ESTGWOA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESTGWOA | 1 | 1 | 1 |
|
| ZOA | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| MSWOA | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| ROA | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| HHO | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
| WOA (Original) | 6 | 6 | 6 |
Engineering Design Case Study: Multi-Disk Clutch Brake Optimization
The Multi-disk Clutch Brake (MDCB) design problem exemplifies the complex challenges in real-world engineering, requiring optimization of geometric and operational parameters to minimize mass/cost while satisfying crucial torque transmission and physical constraints. Its inherently nonlinear and constrained nature makes it a perfect test for advanced metaheuristics.
ESTGWOA's Application: In comparative tests against ZOA, ROA, GWO, AROA, HHO, MWOA, MSWOA, IPSO, and WOA, ESTGWOA consistently demonstrated significantly superior optimization accuracy and stability. Its ability to navigate the complex design landscape led to finding optimal solutions more effectively than other algorithms.
Key Result: ESTGWOA proved to be a highly reliable and effective optimizer for this constrained engineering design problem, highlighting its practical applicability in industrial settings where precision and robustness are paramount.
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Phase 1: Discovery & Strategy
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Phase 2: Proof of Concept (PoC)
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Phase 3: Customization & Integration
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