An evolutionary algorithm based on approximation method and related techniques for solving bilevel programming problems

In the engineering and economic management fields, optimisation models frequently involve different decision-making levels. These are known as multi-level optimisation problems. Because the decision-making process of such problems are hierarchical, they are also called a hierarchical optimisation problems. When the problem involves only two-level decision-making, the corresponding optimisation model is referred to as a bilevel programming problem(BLPP). To address the complex nonlinear bilevel programming problem, in this study, we design an evolutionary algorithm embedded with a surrogate model-that it is a approximation method and correlation coefficients. First, the isodata method is used to group the initial population, and the correlation coefficients of the individuals in each group are determined based on the rank of the leader and follower objective functions. Second, for the offspring individuals produced by the evolutionary operator, the surrogate model is used to approximate the solution of the follower’s programming problem, during which the points in the population are screened by combining the correlation coefficients. Finally, a new crossover operator is designed by the spherical search method, which diversifies the generated offspring. The simulation experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can effectively obtain an optimal solution.