Useful infeasible solutions in engineering optimization with evolutionary algorithms

We propose an evolutionary-based approach to solve engineering design problems without using penalty functions. The aim is to identify and maintain infeasible solutions close to the feasible region located in promising areas. In this way, using the genetic operators, more solutions will be generated inside the feasible region and also near its boundaries. As a result, the feasible region will be sampled well-enough as to reach better feasible solutions. The proposed approach, which is simple to implement, is tested with respect to typical penalty function techniques as well as against state-of-the-art approaches using four mechanical design problems. The results obtained are discussed and some conclusions are provided.