Branch pipe routing approach for ships using improved genetic algorithm
Branch pipe routing plays fundamental and critical roles in ship pipe design. The branch pipe routing problem is a complex combinatorial optimization problem and is thus difficult to solve when depending only on human experts. A modified genetic algorithm based approach is proposed in this paper to solve this problem. The simplified layout space is first divided into threedimensional (3D) grids to build its mathematical model. Branch pipes in layout space are regarded as a combination of several two point pipes, and the pipe route between two connection points is generated using an improved maze algorithm. The coding of branch pipes is then defined, and the genetic operators are devised, especially the complete crossover strategy that greatly accelerates the convergence speed. Finally, simulation tests demonstrate the performance of proposed method.