Optimum synthesis of mechanisms using tabu-gradient search algorithm

A tabu-gradient search is herein presented for optimum synthesis of planar mechanisms. The solution generated by a recency-based, short term memory tabu search is used to start a gradient search to drive the solution ever closer to the global minimum. A brief overview of the tabu-search method is first presented. A tabu-gradient algorithm is then used to synthesize four-bar mechanisms for path generation tasks by way of three examples, including two benchmark examples used before to test other deterministic and intelligent optimization schemes. Compared with the corresponding results generated by other schemes, the tabu-gradient search rendered the most optimal solutions of all. [DOI: 10.1115/1.1904640]