Two-stage dynamic model on allocation of construction facilities with genetic algorithm

By their very nature, activities within the construction site are generally highly dynamic and complex. Hence, it is highly desirable to be able to formulate the optimal strategy for allocating site-level facilities at different times of the project. The principal objective is to minimize the total cost, which comprises the transportation, handling, capital, and operating costs at potential intermediate transfer centers of various plant and material resources over the entire project duration. The problem can be formulated as a mixed integer program, which entails enormous computational effort for the solution, in particular when the problem size is large. In this paper, a two-stage dynamic model is developed to assist construction planners to formulate the optimal strategy for establishing potential intermediate transfer centers for site-level facilities such as batch plants, lay-down yards, receiving warehouses., various workshops, etc. Under this approach, the solution of the problem is split into two stages, namely, a lower-level stage and an upper-level stage. The former can be solved by a standard linear programming method, whereas the latter is solved by a genetic algorithm. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated through case examples. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.