An Automated Layout Design System for Industrial Plant Piping

This paper describes a new approach to an automated layout design system for industrial plant piping. The routing system, which is the main part of this layout system, is composed of three steps, according to the practical layout design process. By dividing the layout design into the optimal routing phase (Step 1, Step 2) and the arrangement phase (Step 3), it is possible to design without depending on the routing order, and with small computer memory storage capacities. The optimal route is obtained by using the routing algorithm and heuristic search, based on expert knowledge. The arrangements are made by applying the enumeration method, taking the strong and weak constraints into account.