Computer-aided site layout for construction projects-A graph theoretic approach

Computers have been used for plant layouts, facility planning etc. for the last over two decades. Usually there are two criteria: (i) maximizing the adjacencies or closeness ratings; or (ii) minimising the material handling costs. The computer algorithms for this purpose can be mainly of two types: (a) construction type or (b) improvement type. The construction type algorithms are considered or preferred for the layouts of sites of construction projects, mainly because they start from scratch and build the departments one after the other. In an earlier paper the authors discussed the modified Whitehead’s algorithm for site layouts on construction projects. They showed that an approach based on cluster analysis can reduce computation time. In this paper the authors present an algorithm based on maximal spanning tree and connectedness matrix approach.