An enhanced symbiotic organisms search (ESOS) algorithm is developed and presented. Modifications to the basic symbiotic organisms search algorithm are carried out in all three phases of the algorithm with the aim of balancing the exploitation and exploration capabilities of the algorithm. To verify validity and capability of the ESOS algorithm in solving general optimization problems, the CEC2014 set of 22 benchmark functions is first optimized and the results are compared with other metaheuristic algorithms. The ESOS algorithm is then used to optimize the sizing and shape of five benchmark trusses with multiple frequency constraints. The best (minimum) mass, mean mass, standard deviation of the mass, total number of function evaluations, and the values of frequency constraints are then compared with those of a number of other metaheuristic solutions available in the literature. It is shown that the proposed ESOS algorithm is generally more efficient in optimizing the shape and sizing of trusses with dynamic frequency constraints compared to other reported metaheuristic algorithms, including the basic symbiotic organisms search and its other recently proposed improved variants such as the improved symbiotic organisms search algorithm (ISOS) and modified symbiotic organisms search algorithm (MSOS).
