Search and rescue optimization algorithm: A new optimization method for solving constrained engineering optimization problems

A new optimization method namely the Search and Rescue optimization algorithm (SAR) is presented here to solve constrained engineering optimization problems. This metaheuristic algorithm imitates the explorations behavior of humans during search and rescue operations. The ε-constrained method is utilized as a constraint-handling technique. Besides, a restart strategy is proposed to avoid local infeasible minima in some complex constrained optimization problems. SAR is applied to solve 18 benchmark constraint functions presented in CEC 2010, 13 benchmark constraint functions, and 7 constrained engineering design problems reported in the specialized literature. The performance of SAR is compared with some state-of-the-art optimization algorithms. According to the statistical comparison results, the performance of SAR is better or highly competitive against the compared algorithms on most of the studied problems.