How to convert 3D bin packing problem to 2D bin packing approximation?

Question

I'm trying to approximately solve a 3D container loading problem. Is it possible to use 2D bin packing algorithms? If so, how do we make the transformation? What are the conditions needed to make the transformation?

Answer 1

According to the attached file:

In the $m$-dimensional bin packing problem ($m$-BPP) there are many large boxes of equal sizes, which are called bins, and the objective is to pack all $n$ items into a minimum number of bins.

We can translate any $m$-BPP instance into an instance of $(m+1)$-SPP (strip packing problem), where the additional $(m+1)$st direction (the height of the strip) is used to count bins.

I hope, this link would be useful.