Abstract: Aiming at the low layout efficiency and space utilization in the design process of aero-engine external pipeline system, an automatic pipe layout method based on adaptive beetle antennae search algorithm is proposed. This method adds an adaptive variable step size mechanism to the original Beetle Antennae Search algorithm, so that it could search for a better solution while retaining the advantage of high efficiency. A modeling method which process attachments and pipelines separately is proposed to describe obstacles in complex layout space. In this method, the axis-aligned bounding box of attachment is computed first, and the grid matrix of attachment in bounding box is constructed then. Specifically, the interference of pipes is judged by the method of line segment intersection, on this basis, choosing the obstacle avoidance strategy of the current pipe which could fully utilize the layout space. Pipeline length and pressure loss are selected as the optimization objectives to construct the mathematical model of pipe layout. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed method is demonstrated with a simulation instance.

Key words: aero-engine, pipe layout, BAS algorithm, line segment intersection, obstacle avoidance strategy