A Comparative Study of Meta-heuristic Algorithms for Solving Quadratic Assignment Problem

Optimization problems arise in various disciplines such as engineering design, manufacturing system, economics etc. thus in view of the practical utility of optimization problems there is a need for efficient and robust computational algorithms which can solve optimization problems arising in different fields. Several NPhard combinatorial optimization problems, such as the traveling salesman problem, and yard management of container terminals can be modeled as QAPs.. Optimization is a process that finds a best, or optimal, solution for a problem. An optimization problem is defined as: Finding values of the variables that minimize or maximize the objective function while satisfying the constraints. The Optimization problems are centered on three factors: (1) an objective function which is to be minimized or maximized.