Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm for Construction Branched Pipe Routing

Due to the complexity of layout spaces in constructions, the arrangement of pipelines is a laborious task. However, the majority of existing pipeline layout algorithms, which are based on objective weighting, primarily focus on single pipeline layout. Moreover, in practical engineering scenarios, branched pipelines outnumber single pipelines by a considerable margin. Therefore, this paper proposes a method based on an improved A* algorithm and the NSGA-II algorithm to solve the problem of branched pipeline layout. First, mathematical models of layout space and optimization algorithms are established, and optimization objectives are defined. Second, the key technologies of the algorithm are detailed, including the improved A* algorithm, two different genetic crossover strategies, and a strategy for preserving population diversity, aimed at enhancing the algorithm's optimization capability. Third, a method to optimize the overall overlap of branch pipelines is proposed. Finally, the effectiveness and efficiency of this method are verified through experiments.