Interactive autodidactic school: A new metaheuristic optimization algorithm for solving mathematical and structural design optimization problems

A new efficient and robust metaheuristic algorithm called "Interactive Autodidactic School (IAS)" is proposed in this paper to solve numerical optimization and structural design optimization problems. IAS is a population-based algorithm on the basis of the interactions between students in an autodidactic school with the goal of increasing their knowledge through a combination of self-teaching/self-learning, interactive discussion, criticism, and the competition. IAS is tested in twenty mathematical optimization and seven structural optimization problems. Subsequently, its optimum solution is compared with other well-known optimization algorithms. The obtained results confirmed that the proposed IAS algorithm gives best optimal solution and has excellent performance compared with other optimization methods. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.