Optimal Placement of Piles in Real Grillages: Experimental Comparison of Optimization Algorithms

The aim of the article is to choose algorithms suited for optimal placement of piles in real grillages by performing experimental comparison of different global optimization algorithms. The comparison includes several algorithms: random search, metaheuristics (simulated annealing and genetic algorithm) and local optimization combined with random search. The algorithms are compared using the results of optimization of pile placement schemes of 10 practical grillages of small-to-medium scale with data obtained from several design bureaus. The best results have been achieved with simulated annealing and nonlinear optimization algorithm NEWUOA combined with heuristic random search.