An Improved Harmony Search Algorithm for Emergency Inspection Scheduling

The ability of nature inspired search algorithms to efficiently handle combinatorial problems and their successful implementation in many fields of engineering and applied sciences has led to the development of new, improved algorithms. In this paper, an improved harmony search algorithm (IHS) is presented, while a holistic approach in solving the problem of post-disaster infrastructure management is also proposed. The efficiency of IHS is compared with the algorithms of particle swarm optimization, differential evolution, basic harmony search and the pure random search procedure, when considered solving the districting problem that is the first part of post-disaster infrastructure management. While the ant colony optimization algorithm is employed for solving the associated routing problem. The comparison is based on the quality of the results, the computational demands, and the sensitivity on the algorithmic parameters.