Digital Twin-Driven Dynamic Feasible Route Planning for Rubber-Tired Gantry Cranes: An Engineering Case Study in a Nomadic Prefabricated Beam Yard

This study focuses on a large rubber-tired gantry crane (RTGC) operating in a nomadic prefabricated beam yard and develops a Digital Twin-driven dynamic feasible route planning method for the path planning problem under the combined effects of a discrete topological road network, dynamic road occupation, time-window constraints, and right-of-way priority rules. By integrating the existing digitalized yard management system with field-acquired data, an operational-stage updating mechanism for dynamic topology and time windows is established. On this basis, long-vehicle occupancy, time-window constraints, and right-of-way priority rules are embedded into the A* search and rolling replanning process, forming a Digital Twin-based dynamic A* (TD-A*) feasible route planning algorithm under evolving operational constraints. Results from a representative operational case show that, under long-path conditions with significant dynamic constraints, TD-A* reduces transportation distance by 16.8% and operation time by 18.9%. For the full-process results, the transportation distance is reduced by 16.4%, the operation time by 12.8%, and the number of turning maneuvers by 50.0%. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can improve the adaptability of feasible route planning to dynamic road occupation and traffic conflicts in a real nomadic beam yard with a single RTGC, and demonstrate the engineering feasibility of embedding Digital Twin-driven dynamic constraints into the route planning process.