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A Customized Particle Swarm Method to Solve Highway Alignment Optimization Problem
Author(s) -
Shafahi Yousef,
Bagherian Mehdi
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
computer‐aided civil and infrastructure engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.773
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1467-8667
pISSN - 1093-9687
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8667.2012.00769.x
Subject(s) - particle swarm optimization , mathematical optimization , computer science , set (abstract data type) , tangent , process (computing) , algorithm , mathematics , geometry , programming language , operating system
Optimizing highway alignment requires a versatile set of cost functions and an efficient search method to achieve the best design. Because of numerous highway design considerations, this issue is classified as a constrained problem. Moreover, because of the infinite number of possible solutions for the problem and the continuous search space, highway alignment optimization is a complex problem. In this study, a customized particle swarm optimization algorithm was used to search for a near‐optimal highway alignment, which is a compound of several tangents, consisting of circular (for horizontal design) and parabolic (for vertical alignment) curves. The selected highway alignment should meet the constraints of highway design while minimizing total cost as the objective function. The model uses geographical information system (GIS) maps as an efficient and fast way to calculate right‐of‐way costs, earthwork costs, and any other spatial information and constraints that should be implemented in the design process. The efficiency of the algorithm was verified through a case study using an artificial map as the study region. Finally, we applied the algorithm to a real‐world example and the results were compared with the alignment found by traditional methods.