Direct Tracking of the Pareto Front of a Multi-Objective Optimization Problem

Abstract

In this paper, some methodologies aimed at the identification of the Pareto front of a multi-objective optimization problem are presented and applied. Three different approaches are presented: local sampling, Pareto front resampling and Normal Boundary Intersection (NBI). A first approximation of the Pareto front is obtained by a regular sampling of the design space, and then the Pareto front is improved and enriched using the other two above mentioned techniques. A detailed Pareto front is obtained for an optimization problem where algebraic objective functions are applied, also in comparison with standard techniques. Encouraging results are also obtained for two different ship design problems. The use of the algebraic functions allows for a comparison with the real Pareto front, correctly detected. The variety of the ship design problems allows for a generalization of the applicability of the methodology.