A New Hybrid Method for Constrained Global Optimization

By combining properly the simulated annealing algorithm and the nonlinear programming neural network, a new hybrid method for comtrained global optimization is proposed in this paper. To maintain the applicability of the simulated annealing algorithm used in the hybrid method as general as possible, the nonlinear programming neural network is employed at each iteration to find only a feasible solution to the original constrained problem rather than a local optimal solution. Such a feasible solution is obtained by solving an auxiliary optimization problem with a new objective function. The computational results for two numerical examples indicate that the proposed hybrid method for constrained global optimization is not only highly reliable but also much more effcient than the simulated annealing algorithm using the penalty function method to deal with the constraints.