Seismic Design Optimization Using an Improved Starfish Optimization Algorithm Integrated with Grey Wolf Optimizer Strategy
Received: 8 July 2025 | Revised: 7 August 2025 and 6 September 2025 | Accepted: 18 September 2025 | Online: 8 December 2025
Corresponding author: Viet Hung Tran
Abstract
This study proposes an improved version of the Starfish Optimization Algorithm (SFOA) by integrating strategies from the Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) algorithm to address the entrapment in local minima and enhance its exploitation capabilities. Through benchmark tests on two asymmetrical steel frame structures, the proposed Improved SFOA (ISFOA) demonstrated superior performance compared to the original SFOA, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), GWO, and Stellar Oscillation Optimizer (SOO). The algorithm successfully optimized the benchmark steel frames, achieving the lightest structural designs among the tested algorithms. Specifically, for the four-story structure with a 132-member steel space frame, ISFOA obtained lighter designs by 34%, 10%, 7%, and 11% compared to the best solutions achieved by PSO, GWO, SOO, and SFOA, respectively. Similarly, for the four-story with 428-member steel frame, the optimized design generated by the ISFOA suggested lighter designs by 42%, 17%, 9%, and 12%, for PSO, GWO, SOO, and SFOA, respectively. The ISFOA complied with displacement and geometric constraints according to the LRFD-AISC standard.
Keywords:
optimization, seismic design, metaheuristics, Sfoa, Gwo, steel frameDownloads
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