Reliability optimization of a series system with multiple-choice and budget constraints using a genetic algorithm

This paper deals with a reliability optimization problem for a series system with multiple-choice and budget constraints. Choosing one technology for each subsystem and for maximizing the reliability of the whole system subject to the available budget, the optimization criteria are in used. We develop an efficient genetic algorithm hybridized with a local search step to solve the problem. In the approach, constructed solutions are not guaranteed to be feasible; accordingly, with use of an appropriate procedure, an infeasible solution is replaced by a feasible one. Through evaluating the proposed approach with the existing metaheuristic one which is available in the literature, the results show a better performance in computation for the algorithm which has been introduced here.