This paper presents a human-computer cooperation improved ant colony optimization (HCCIACO) algorithm for ship pipe route design (SPRD).
The ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is improved according to the characteristics of ship pipe routing which is used to solve the single pipe routing problem.
An offshore platform is a large structure that is used to house workers and machinery needed to drill wells in the ocean bed, extract oil and/or natural gas, process the produced fluids, and ship or pipe them to shore.
At the moment, the heavy, black, viscous oil known as bitumen extracted from the tar sands undergoes a preliminary processing in Alberta known as upgrading, so that it is liquid enough to be shipped through a pipe to an oil refinery.
Hawkins paces out just one square foot of foreshore and picks up Victorian plate, modern glass, oyster shell, medieval roof tile, granite ballast from merchant ships and clay pipe stems.
That means shipping 8,400 miles of pipe to this part of the state every 12 months.
It makes no economic sense: beyond 3,000km, it is cheaper to liquefy and ship natural gas than pipe it.
About 150 people were at work — dock hands, line handlers, mechanics, pipe fitters, ship fitters, shipwrights and marine electricians.
A visit to the World Pipe Champion-ships, held every summer in Glasgow, would beguile the newcomer.
Treasure & Bond has an unfinished look: exposed pipes, wooden shipping crates turned into display cases, and rolling storage serving as tables.
