en Optimal design Optimal design پژوهشي Research <p dir="ltr">This paper presents a novel population-based meta-heuristic algorithm inspired by the game&nbsp;of tug of war. Utilizing a sport metaphor the algorithm, denoted as Tug of War Optimization&nbsp;(TWO), considers each candidate solution as a team participating in a series of rope pulling&nbsp;competitions. &nbsp;The &nbsp;teams &nbsp;exert &nbsp;pulling &nbsp;forces &nbsp;on &nbsp;each &nbsp;other &nbsp;based &nbsp;on &nbsp;the &nbsp;quality &nbsp;of &nbsp;the&nbsp;solutions &nbsp;they &nbsp;represent. &nbsp;The &nbsp;competing &nbsp;teams &nbsp;move &nbsp;to &nbsp;their &nbsp;new &nbsp;positions &nbsp;according &nbsp;to Newtonian laws of mechanics. Unlike many other meta-heuristic methods, the algorithm is&nbsp;formulated &nbsp;in &nbsp;such &nbsp;a &nbsp;way &nbsp;that &nbsp;considers &nbsp;the &nbsp;qualities &nbsp;of &nbsp;both &nbsp;of &nbsp;the &nbsp;interacting &nbsp;solutions. TWO &nbsp;is &nbsp;applicable &nbsp;to &nbsp;global &nbsp;optimization &nbsp;of &nbsp;discontinuous, &nbsp;multimodal, &nbsp;non-smooth, &nbsp;and&nbsp;non-convex functions. Viability of the proposed method is examined using some benchmark&nbsp;mathematical functions and engineering design problems. The numerical results indicate the&nbsp;efficiency of the proposed algorithm compared to some other methods available in literature.</p> tug of war optimization, meta-heuristic algorithm, mathematical functions, optimal design, truss structures 469 492 http://ijoce.iust.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-66-111&slc_lang=en&sid=1 A. Kaveh 180031947532846001022 180031947532846001022 Yes A. Zolghadr 180031947532846001023 180031947532846001023 No