The goal of ship pipe route design (SPRD) is to seek the near-optimal paths that meet various constraints and objectives. Due to the complex construction of routing space, diverse piping constraints, and the large number of pipes, SPRD is one of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks even to a skilled pipe designer. This paper proposes automatic approaches for solving SPRD with A* algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA). Firstly, by simplifying the equipment and decomposing the routing space into grids, the mathematical model of SPRD is created. Then, the improved A* algorithm (A*-Router) for single pipe routing is introduced. The evaluation function, auxiliary tables and algorithm framework of A*-Router are presented. To obtain high-quality and diverse layouts, the improved GA (A*-GA-Router) is formulated by A*-Router and the connection-points strategy. Several new genetic operators of A*-GA-Router are designed to improve the routing performance. For multiple pipes routing, the novel algorithm (Multi-Pipes-Router) which calls A*-GA-Router internally is put forward. It arranges pipes according to the specified routing sequence and can produce parallel layout under the function of GA optimization and connectionpoints strategy. To cope with branch-pipe routing widely existing in engineering, a new pipe router (Branch-Pipe-Router) is put forward using a modified Steiner Tree framework in combination with the proposed single pipe routing algorithms. Compared with the traditional methods based on coevolution, it is more versatile and can effectively balance the layout quality and time efficiency. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithms are demonstrated by the experiments on the designed and actual cases. INDEX TERMS A* algorithm, genetic algorithm (GA), single pipe routing, multiple pipes routing, branch pipe routing, ship pipe route design (SPRD)

Pipe route design is one of the most complex and time-consuming steps in the ship detailed design. A large number of scholars have studied the optimization of ship pipe routes, but there is still a lack of a fast and effective method for the automatic design of complex pipe routes. For this reason, this article proposes the auto-routing methods of single pipes, branch pipes, and multipipes. The auto-routing methods are based on an Improved A* algorithm. Compared with the traditional A* algorithm, the Improved A* algorithm considers the constraints of ship pipe route design. And by introducing “Blocking Iteration” and dynamic weight, the accuracy and efficiency of the algorithm are improved. On this basis, this article uses Python and OpenGL to develop the automatic pipe route design system. The system supports the automatic pipe route design, visualization of optimization results, and two-way interaction with three-dimensional (3-D) design software. Finally, the practicability of the proposed methods and system is verified by the simulation on a comparison case and an actual fuel filling and transfer pipe system.

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