Site-level facilities layout using genetic algorithms

Construction site-level facilities layout is an important activity in site planning. The objective of this activity is to allocate appropriate locations and areas for temporary site-level facilities such as warehouses, job offices, various workshops and batch plants. Depending on the size, location, and nature of the project, the required temporary facilities may vary. The layout of facilities has an important impact on the production time and cost savings, especially for large projects. In this paper, a construction site-level facility layout problem is described as allocating a set of predetermined facilities into a set of predetermined places, while satisfying layout constraints and requirements. A genetic algorithm system, which is a computational model of Darwinian evolution theory, is employed to solve the facilities layout problem. A case study is presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the genetic algorithm system in solving the construction site-level facility layout problems.