1,721,092 research outputs found
A Heuristic approach to long-haul freight transportation with multiple objective functions
A Note on the modeling of project networks with temporal constraints
In this note we show how to manage, by means of Generalized Precedence Relationships, some kinds of temporal constraints introduced by Chen et al. (1997) in project networks
An optimization-based heuristic for the multi-objective undirected capacitated arc routing problem
The Multi-objective Undirected Capacitated Arc Routing Problem (MUCARP) is the optimization problem aimed at finding the best strategy for servicing a subset of clients localized along the links of a logistic network, by using a fleet of vehicles and optimizing more than one objective. In general, the first goal consists in minimizing the total transportation cost, and in this case the problem brings back to the well-known Undirected Capacitated Arc Routing Problem (UCARP). The motivation behind the study of the MUCARP lies in the study of real situations where companies working in the logistic distribution field deal with complex operational strategies, in which different actors (trucks, drivers, customers) have to be allocated within an unified framework by taking into account opposite needs and different employment contracts. All the previous considerations lead to the MUCARP as a benchmark optimization problem for modeling practical situations. In this paper, the MUCARP is heuristically tackled. In particular, three competitive objectives are minimized at the same time: the total transportation cost, the longest route cost (makespan) and the number of vehicles (i.e., the total number of routes). An approximation of the optimal Pareto front is determined through an optimization-based heuristic procedure, whose performances are tested and analyzed on classical benchmark instances
A mathematical model for the Multi-Levels Product Allocation Problem in a warehouse with compatibility constraints
The aim of this work is to address the products allocation problem in a multi-layers warehouse with compatibility constraints among the classes. The problem under study represents one of the most relevant topic in Logistics. The goal is to reduce, as much as possible, the delivery times; the inventories; the total logistic costs and to guarantee, at the same time, higher service levels (i.e., high customers satisfaction degree). In this work, a linear model to mathematically represent the problem is developed and its performance is evaluated on a set of instances, representing realistic situations. A sensitivity analysis is
also carried out by considering the most relevant parameters of the model. Finally, an Iterated Local Search based heuristic is defined in order to solve large scale scenarios in a reasonable amount of time. Numerical results show that the proposed heuristic is able to find
good quality solutions with a computational effort lower than that required to solve the proposed mathematical model
The Rainbow Steiner Tree Problem
Given an undirected and edge-colored graph with non-negative edge lengths, the aim of the Rainbow Steiner Tree Problem (RSTP) is to find a minimum Steiner Tree that uses at most one edge for each color. In this paper, the RSTP is introduced, a mathematical model is proposed to formally represent the problem and its theoretical properties are investigated. Since the RSTP belongs to the NP-class, two heuristic methods are designed: a Lagrangian relaxation approach and a multistart algorithm. Extensive computational experiments are carried out on a significant set of test problems to empirically evaluate the performance of the proposed approaches. The computational results show that the two approaches are both effective and efficient compared to the ILOG CPLEX solver
Shortest path reoptimization vs resolution from scratch: a computational comparison
The Shortest Path Problem (SPP) is among the most studied problems in Operations Research, for its theoretical aspects but also because it appears as sub-problem in many combinatorial optimization problems, e.g. Vehicle Routing and Maximum Flow-Minimum Cost problems. Given a sequence of SPPs, suppose that two subsequent instances solely differ by a slight change in the graph structure: that is the set of nodes, the set of arcs or both have changed; then, the goal of the reoptimization consists in solving the (Formula presented.) SPP of the sequence by reusing valuable information gathered in the solution of the (Formula presented.) one. We focused on the most general scenario, i.e. multiple changes for any subset of arcs, for which, only the description of a dual-primal approach has been proposed so far [S. Pallottino and M.G. Scutell‘a, A new algorithm for reoptimizing shortest paths when the arc costs change, Oper. Res. Lett. 31 (2003), pp. 149-160.]. We implemented this framework exploiting efficient data structures, i.e. the Multi Level Bucket. In addition, we compare the performance of our proposal with the well-known Dijkstra's algorithm, applied for solving each modified problem from scratch. In this way, we draw the line–in terms of cost, topology, and size–among the instances where the reoptimization approach is efficient from those that should be solved from scratch
An auction-based approach for the re-optimization shortest path tree problem
The shortest path tree problem is one of the most studied problems in network optimization. Given a directed weighted graph, the aim is to find a shortest path from a given origin node to any other node of the graph. When any change occurs (i.e., the origin node is changed, some nodes/arcs are added/removed to/from the graph, the cost of a subset of arcs is increased/decreased), in order to determine a (still) optimal solution, two different strategies can be followed: a re-optimization algorithm is applied starting from the current optimal solution or a new optimal solution is built from scratch. Generally speaking, the Re-optimization Shortest Path Tree Problem (R-SPTP) consists in solving a sequence of shortest path problems, where the kth problem differs only slightly from the (k- 1) th one, by exploiting the useful information available after each shortest path tree computation. In this paper, we propose an exact algorithm for the R-SPTP, in the case of origin node change. The proposed strategy is based on a dual approach, which adopts a strongly polynomial auction algorithm to extend the solution under construction. The approach is evaluated on a large set of test problems. The computational results underline that it is very promising and outperforms or at least is not worse than the solution approaches reported in the literature
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