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Root growth model: a novel approach to numerical function optimization and simulation of plant root system

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Abstract

This paper presents a general optimization model gleaned ideas from root growth behaviours in the soil. The purpose of the study is to investigate a novel biologically inspired methodology for complex system modelling and computation, particularly for optimization of higher-dimensional numerical function. For this study, a mathematical framework and architecture are designed to model root growth patterns of plant. Under this architecture, the interactions between the soil and root growth are investigated. A novel approach called “root growth algorithm” (RGA) is derived in the framework and simulation studies are undertaken to evaluate this algorithm. The simulation results show that the proposed model can reflect the root growth behaviours of plant in the soil and the numerical results also demonstrate RGA is a powerful search and optimization technique for higher-dimensional numerical function optimization.

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Acknowledgments

This research is partially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China 61174164, supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China 61003208 and supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China 61105067.

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Correspondence to Hao Zhang.

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Communicated by V. Kreinovich.

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Zhang, H., Zhu, Y. & Chen, H. Root growth model: a novel approach to numerical function optimization and simulation of plant root system. Soft Comput 18, 521–537 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-013-1073-z

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