A Study on Optimizing the Double-Spine Type Flow Path Design for the Overhead Transportation System Using Tabu Search Algorithm

Optimizing Flow Path Design(FPD)is a popular research area in transportation system design,but its application to Overhead Transportation Systems(OTSs)has been limited.This study focuses on optimizing a double-spine flow path design for OTSs with 10 stations by minimizing the total travel distance for both loaded and empty flows.We employ transportation methods,specifically the North-West Corner and Stepping-Stone methods,to determine empty vehicle travel flows.Additionally,the Tabu Search(TS)algorithm is applied to branch the 10 stations into two main layout branches.The results obtained from our proposed method demonstrate a reduction in the objective function value compared to the initial feasible solution.Furthermore,we explore howchanges in the parameters of the TS algorithm affect the optimal result.We validate the feasibility of our approach by comparing it with relevant literature and conducting additional tests on layouts with 20 and 30 stations.