A data-driven surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm applied to a many-objective blast furnace optimization problem

A new data-driven reference vector-guided evolutionary algorithm has been successfully implemented to construct surrogate models for various objectives pertinent to an industrial blast furnace. A total of eight objectives have been modeled using the operational data of the furnace using 12 process variables identified through a principal component analysis and optimized simultaneously. The capability of this algorithm to handle a large number of objectives, which has been lacking earlier, results in a more efficient setting of the operational parameters of the furnace, leading to a precisely optimized hot metal production process. peerReviewed

On Constraint Handling in Surrogate-Assisted Evolutionary Many-Objective Optimization

Surrogate-assisted evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithms are often used to solve computationally expensive problems. But their efficacy on handling constrained optimization problems having more than three objectives has not been widely studied. Particularly the issue of how feasible and infeasible solutions are handled in generating a data set for training a surrogate has not received much attention. In this paper, we use a recently proposed Kriging-assisted evolutionary algorithm for many-objective optimization and investigate the effect of infeasible solutions on the performance of the surrogates. We assume that constraint functions are computationally inexpensive and consid…

Potential of interactive multiobjective optimization in supporting the design of a groundwater biodenitrification process

The design of water treatment plants requires simultaneous analysis of technical, economic and environmental aspects, identified by multiple conflicting objectives. We demonstrated the advantages of an interactive multiobjective optimization (MOO) method over a posteriori methods in an unexplored field, namely the design of a biological treatment plant for drinking water production, that tackles the process drawbacks, contrarily to what happens in a traditional volumetric-load-driven design procedure. Specifically, we consider a groundwater denitrification biofilter, simulated by the Activated Sludge Model modified with two-stage denitrification kinetics. Three objectives were defined (nitr…

Constraint handling in efficient global optimization

Real-world optimization problems are often subject to several constraints which are expensive to evaluate in terms of cost or time. Although a lot of effort is devoted to make use of surrogate models for expensive optimization tasks, not many strong surrogate-assisted algorithms can address the challenging constrained problems. Efficient Global Optimization (EGO) is a Kriging-based surrogate-assisted algorithm. It was originally proposed to address unconstrained problems and later was modified to solve constrained problems. However, these type of algorithms still suffer from several issues, mainly: (1) early stagnation, (2) problems with multiple active constraints and (3) frequent crashes.…

Interactive Multiobjective Robust Optimization with NIMBUS

In this paper, we introduce the MuRO-NIMBUS method for solving multiobjective optimization problems with uncertain parameters. The concept of set-based minmax robust Pareto optimality is utilized to tackle the uncertainty in the problems. We separate the solution process into two stages: the pre-decision making stage and the decision making stage. We consider the decision maker’s preferences in the nominal case, i.e., with the most typical or undisturbed values of the uncertain parameters. At the same time, the decision maker is informed about the objective function values in the worst case to support her/him to make an informed decision. To help the decision maker to understand the behavio…

A survey on handling computationally expensive multiobjective optimization problems with evolutionary algorithms

Evolutionary algorithms are widely used for solving multiobjective optimization problems but are often criticized because of a large number of function evaluations needed. Approximations, especially function approximations, also referred to as surrogates or metamodels are commonly used in the literature to reduce the computation time. This paper presents a survey of 45 different recent algorithms proposed in the literature between 2008 and 2016 to handle computationally expensive multiobjective optimization problems. Several algorithms are discussed based on what kind of an approximation such as problem, function or fitness approximation they use. Most emphasis is given to function approxim…

Surrogate-assisted evolutionary multiobjective shape optimization of an air intake ventilation system

We tackle three different challenges in solving a real-world industrial problem: formulating the optimization problem, connecting different simulation tools and dealing with computationally expensive objective functions. The problem to be optimized is an air intake ventilation system of a tractor and consists of three computationally expensive objective functions. We describe the modeling of the system and its numerical evaluation with a commercial software. To obtain solutions in few function evaluations, a recently proposed surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm K-RVEA is applied. The diameters of four different outlets of the ventilation system are considered as decision variables. Fr…

APROS-NIMBUS: Dynamic Process Simulator and Interactive Multiobjective Optimization in Plant Automation

Abstract Virtual commissioning of chemical plants often involves a dynamic simulator and an optimization method. This paper demonstrates the integration of APROS, a dynamic process simulator and IND-NIMBUS, an interactive multiobjective optimization software. We implement a multiobjective concentration control problem in APROS involving conflicting objectives and employ a decision maker to interact with IND-NIMBUS and express his preference information to finally obtain his most preferred solution. The results of this study show that APROS and IND-NIMBUS can be integrated and an interactive multiobjective optimization method can help the decision maker in exploring trade-offs among conflict…

On Constraint Handling in Surrogate-Assisted Evolutionary Many-Objective Optimization

Surrogate-assisted evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithms are often used to solve computationally expensive problems. But their efficacy on handling constrained optimization problems having more than three objectives has not been widely studied. Particularly the issue of how feasible and infeasible solutions are handled in generating a data set for training a surrogate has not received much attention. In this paper, we use a recently proposed Kriging-assisted evolutionary algorithm for many-objective optimization and investigate the effect of infeasible solutions on the performance of the surrogates. We assume that constraint functions are computationally inexpensive and consid…

A New Hybrid Mutation Operator for Multiobjective Optimization with Differential Evolution

Differential evolution has become one of the most widely used evolution- ary algorithms in multiobjective optimization. Its linear mutation operator is a sim- ple and powerful mechanism to generate trial vectors. However, the performance of the mutation operator can be improved by including a nonlinear part. In this pa- per, we propose a new hybrid mutation operator consisting of a polynomial based operator with nonlinear curve tracking capabilities and the differential evolution’s original mutation operator, to be efficiently able to handle various interdependencies between decision variables. The resulting hybrid operator is straightforward to implement and can be used within most evoluti…

Local search based evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithm for constrained and unconstrained problems

Evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithms are commonly used to obtain a set of non-dominated solutions for over a decade. Recently, a lot of emphasis have been laid on hybridizing evolutionary algorithms with MCDM and mathematical programming algorithms to yield a computationally efficient and convergent procedure. In this paper, we test an augmented local search based EMO procedure rigorously on a test suite of constrained and unconstrained multi-objective optimization problems. The success of our approach on most of the test problems not only provides confidence but also stresses the importance of hybrid evolutionary algorithms in solving multi-objective optimization problems.

An Introduction to Multiobjective Optimization

Multiobjective optimization in industry has rapidly grown in importance, as it provides the possibility for a designer or an engineer to consider the problem in hand as a whole. Solution to a multiobjective optimization problem involves several optimal solutions with different trade-offs. As a result upon optimization s(he) can understand the trade-offs between different solutions and subsequently choose the most preferred solution. In this paper, we provide a bird’s eye view of the different methods available in the literature to solve multiobjective optimization problems. Specifically, in literature there exists at least two different research fields i.e. multiple criteria decision making…

Hybrid evolutionary multi-objective optimization with enhanced convergence and diversity

Coupling dynamic simulation and interactive multiobjective optimization for complex problems: An APROS-NIMBUS case study

Dynamic process simulators for plant-wide process simulation and multiobjective optimization tools can be used by industries as a means to cut costs and enhance profitability. Specifically, dynamic process simulators are useful in the process plant design phase, as they provide several benefits such as savings in time and costs. On the other hand, multiobjective optimization tools are useful in obtaining the best possible process designs when multiple conflicting objectives are to be optimized simultaneously. Here we concentrate on interactive multiobjective optimization. When multiobjective optimization methods are used in process design, they need an access to dynamic process simulators, …

A Surrogate-assisted Reference Vector Guided Evolutionary Algorithm for Computationally Expensive Many-objective Optimization

We propose a surrogate-assisted reference vector guided evolutionary algorithm for computationally expensive optimization problems with more than three objectives. The proposed algorithm is based on a recently developed evolutionary algorithm for many-objective optimization that relies on a set of adaptive reference vectors for selection. The proposed surrogateassisted evolutionary algorithm uses Kriging to approximate each objective function to reduce the computational cost. In managing the Kriging models, the algorithm focuses on the balance of diversity and convergence by making use of the uncertainty information in the approximated objective values given by the Kriging models, the distr…

A survey on handling computationally expensive multiobjective optimization problems using surrogates: non-nature inspired methods

Computationally expensive multiobjective optimization problems arise, e.g. in many engineering applications, where several conflicting objectives are to be optimized simultaneously while satisfying constraints. In many cases, the lack of explicit mathematical formulas of the objectives and constraints may necessitate conducting computationally expensive and time-consuming experiments and/or simulations. As another challenge, these problems may have either convex or nonconvex or even disconnected Pareto frontier consisting of Pareto optimal solutions. Because of the existence of many such solutions, typically, a decision maker is required to select the most preferred one. In order to deal wi…

E-NAUTILUS: A decision support system for complex multiobjective optimization problems based on the NAUTILUS method

Interactive multiobjective optimization methods cannot necessarily be easily used when (industrial) multiobjective optimization problems are involved. There are at least two important factors to be considered with any interactive method: computationally expensive functions and aspects of human behavior. In this paper, we propose a method based on the existing NAUTILUS method and call it the Enhanced NAUTILUS (E-NAUTILUS) method. This method borrows the motivation of NAUTILUS along with the human aspects related to avoiding trading-off and anchoring bias and extends its applicability for computationally expensive multiobjective optimization problems. In the E-NAUTILUS method, a set of Pareto…

Synchronous R-NSGA-II: An Extended Preference-Based Evolutionary Algorithm for Multi-Objective Optimization

Classical evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithms aim at finding an approx- imation of the entire set of Pareto optimal solutions. By considering the preferences of a decision maker within evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithms, it is possible to focus the search only on those parts of the Pareto front that satisfy his/her preferences. In this paper, an extended preference-based evolutionary algorithm has been proposed for solving multi-objective optimiza- tion problems. Here, concepts from an interactive synchronous NIMBUS method are borrowed and combined with the R-NSGA-II algorithm. The proposed synchronous R-NSGA-II algorithm uses preference information provid…

Connections of reference vectors and different types of preference information in interactive multiobjective evolutionary algorithms

We study how different types of preference information coming from a human decision maker can be utilized in an interactive multiobjective evolutionary optimization algorithm (MOEA). The idea is to convert different types of preference information into a unified format which can then be utilized in an interactive MOEA to guide the search towards the most preferred solution(s). The format chosen here is a set of reference vectors which is used within the interactive version of the reference vector guided evolutionary algorithm (RVEA). The proposed interactive RVEA is then applied to the multiple-disk clutch brake design problem with five objectives to demonstrate the potential of the idea in…

Interactive Inverse Modeling Based Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm

An interactive version of the inverse modeling based multiobjective evolutionary algorithm is presented. Instead of generating a representation of the whole Pareto optimal front, the algorithm aims at producing solutions in the regions where the decision maker is interested in. This is facilitated through an interactive solution process where the decision maker iteratively evaluates a set of solutions shown to her/him and the preference information obtained is used to adapt the search process of the algorithm. peerReviewed

An Interactive Simple Indicator-Based Evolutionary Algorithm (I-SIBEA) for Multiobjective Optimization Problems

This paper presents a new preference based interactive evolutionary algorithm (I-SIBEA) for solving multiobjective optimization problems using weighted hypervolume. Here the decision maker iteratively provides her/his preference information in the form of identifying preferred and/or non-preferred solutions from a set of nondominated solutions. This preference information provided by the decision maker is used to assign weights of the weighted hypervolume calculation to solutions in subsequent generations. In any generation, the weighted hypervolume is calculated and solutions are selected to the next generation based on their contribution to the weighted hypervolume. The algorithm is compa…

Design of a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator using Interactive Multiobjective Optimization

We consider an analytical model of a permanent magnet synchronous generator and formulate a mixed-integer constrained multiobjective optimization problem with six objective functions. We demonstrate the usefulness of solving such a problem by applying an interactive multiobjective optimization method called NIMBUS. In the NIMBUS method, a decision is iteratively involved in the optimization process and directs the solution process in order to find her/his most preferred Pareto optimal solution for the problem. We also employ a commonly used noninteractive evolutionary multiobjective optimization method NSGA-II to generate a set of solutions that approximates the Pareto set and demonstrate t…

An interactive surrogate-based method for computationally expensive multiobjective optimisation

Many disciplines involve computationally expensive multiobjective optimisation problems. Surrogate-based methods are commonly used in the literature to alleviate the computational cost. In this paper, we develop an interactive surrogate-based method called SURROGATE-ASF to solve computationally expensive multiobjective optimisation problems. This method employs preference information of a decision-maker. Numerical results demonstrate that SURROGATE-ASF efficiently provides preferred solutions for a decision-maker. It can handle different types of problems involving for example multimodal objective functions and nonconvex and/or disconnected Pareto frontiers. peerReviewed

Solving multiobjective optimization problems with decision uncertainty: an interactive approach

We propose an interactive approach to support a decision maker to find a most preferred robust solution to multiobjective optimization problems with decision uncertainty. A new robustness measure that is understandable for the decision maker is incorporated as an additional objective in the problem formulation. The proposed interactive approach utilizes elements of the synchronous NIMBUS method and is aimed at supporting the decision maker to consider the objective function values and the robustness of a solution simultaneously. In the interactive approach, we offer different alternatives for the decision maker to express her/his preferences related to the robustness of a solution. To conso…