Method for pipe routing using the expert system and the heuristic pathfinding algorithm in shipbuilding

Pipe routing during the design process of a ship depends on the design experience or knowledge of experts. In this study, an expert system that can systematize expert knowledge was constructed to enhance the design of a ship's pipe routing, which relies on experts. In addition, a method for pipe routing using a pathfinding algorithm was proposed. An arrangement template model (a type of data structure for pipe routing) and an arrangement evaluation model (a type of expert system) were proposed to systematically concretize and computerize expert knowledge. To review several alternatives for pipe routing in a short time and derive an optimal alternative, an optimization technique was combined with an expert system, and the optimization problem was mathematically formulated. That is, the design alternatives for pipe routing were evaluated using the arrangement evaluation model, and the results were used as one of the objective functions of the optimization problem for optimal pipe routing. To verify the proposed method, examples were selected, pipe routing was performed on the examples, and the results were compared with those of the manual design. As a result, an improved pipe routing could be obtained using the proposed method.