An improved genetic algorithm for multi-floor facility layout problems having inner structure walls and passages

This study proposed an improved genetic algorithm to derive solutions for multi-floor facility layouts that are to have inner structure walls and passages. The proposed algorithm models the multi-floor layout of facilities on gene structures. These gene structures consist of a five-segmented chromosome. Improved solutions are produced by employing genetic operations known as selection, crossover, inversion, mutation, and refinement of these genes for successive generations. All relationships between the facilities, passages, and lifts are represented as an adjacency graph. The shortest path and distance between two facilities is calculated using Dijkstra's algorithm of the graph theory. Comparative testing shows that the proposed algorithm performs better than other existing algorithms for the multi-floor facility layout design. Finally, the proposed algorithm is applied to the multi-deck compartment layout problem of the ship with the computational result compared with the multi-deck compartment layout of the actual ship.