Application of self-adaptive method in multi-objective harmony search algorithm

The Harmony Search algorithm (HSA) is inspired by musical improvisation process searching for a perfect state of harmony. Although many variants have been released and increasing number of applications have appeared, selecting suitable parameter values for the optimization algorithm is not an easy task. To overcome the difficulty, many researchers developed skillful parameter-setting methods for the algorithm parameters such as Parameter-setting-Free methods and Selfadaptive methods. These methods have been applied in various research areas (e.g., mathematics, civil engineering, mechanic engineering, and economics) and considered different formulations for solving their problems. This study applies Self-adaptive methods in the multi-objective HSA framework to solve an engineering problem (i.e., water distribution network design). It can be efficiently applied to the search for Pareto optimal solutions in the multi-objective solution space.