A heuristic particle swarm optimizer for optimization of pin connected structures

This paper presents a heuristic particle swarm optimizer (HPSO) for optimum design of pin connected structures. The algorithm is based on the particle swarm optimizer with passive congregation (PSOPC) and a harmony search (HS) scheme. The HPSO algorithm handles the problem-specific constraints using a ‘fly-back mechanism’ method, and the harmony search scheme deals with the variable constraints. The method is verified and compared with the PSO and PSOPC algorithms used for the designs of five planar and spatial truss structures. The results show that the HPSO algorithm can effectively accelerate the convergence rate and can more quickly reach the optimum design than the two other algorithms.