Development of the unlocking mechanisms for the complex method

The locking phenomenon, or the degeneracy, has long been the potential defectiveness of the Complex Method. A locked optimization process leads to not only unreliable optimum but waste of time. In this paper, a modified Complex algorithm is suggested and assessed by four test functions. The results showed that the improved Complex Method equipped with the new unlocking mechanisms demonstrates excellent abilities to avoid locking phenomenon. Besides, it reduces the time of processing to about 80% to reach the optimum with the same accuracy. Moreover, a practical example of a common engineering problem is also given to show its applicability.