Modified genetic algorithm for BIBD construction

This paper presents a way of using the natural evolution process as a model for combinatorial design constructions. In spite of the fact that metaheuristic proved its efficiency on a variety of problems, there are only a few known cases of implementing it on combinatorial designs. The genetic algorithm developed here was able to construct BIBDs by searching through the natural solution space without any additional constraints. Among all the obtained positive results, new simple designs with parameters 2-(14, 4, 6) and 2-(18, 4, 6) should be pointed out.