Simulated Annealing Metaheuristic Approach for Generating Alternative Corridor Locations

Abstract

This article presents a metaheuristic approach applying simulated annealing for the problem of planning corridors for oil pipelines facilities. The corridor location problem requires finding an optimal or a set of sub-optimal alternative routes between two locations, accounting for cost optimization and topographical constraints. The proposed simulated annealing applies a path-based search for exploring the space of possible routes. The experimental evaluation solves realistic problem instances considering real information of Veracruz, Mexico. The proposed approach is able to compute a set of near-optimal alternative routes that improve up to 34.1% of the terrain impact cost over a greedy pathfinding reference method, such as the ones included in traditional geographical information systems.