Ship routing and scheduling with cargo coupling and synchronization constraints

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and solve a planning problem faced by shipping companies operating in a special segment of tramp shipping called project shipping. Project shipping differs from other more traditional tramp segments because the cargoes are more unique and usually transported on a one-time basis. The special nature of the cargoes complicates the routing and scheduling. For instance, a cargo can be part of a process facility, but the shipping company cannot transport it unless other parts of the same facility are transported as well, even though these parts may have different origins. This creates an additional coupling constraint between the cargoes. In addition, the different parts might require synchronized delivery within some time window. We present a mathematical formulation for the problem and propose three alternative solution methods based on path flow formulations and a priori column generation. In one of the solution methods this is combined with a scheme for relaxing the complicating synchronization constraints and reintroducing them dynamically when needed. Computational results show that we are able to find optimal solutions to problems based on data obtained from a shipping company.     

The robust vehicle routing problem with time windows

This paper addresses the robust vehicle routing problem with time windows. We are motivated by a problem that arises in maritime transportation where delays are frequent and should be taken into account. Our model only allows routes that are feasible for all values of the travel times in a predetermined uncertainty polytope, which yields a robust optimization problem. We propose two new formulations for the robust problem, each based on a different robust approach. The first formulation extends the well-known resource inequalities formulation by employing adjustable robust optimization. We propose two techniques, which, using the structure of the problem, allow to reduce significantly the number of extreme points of the uncertainty polytope. The second formulation generalizes a path inequalities formulation to the uncertain context. The uncertainty appears implicitly in this formulation, so that we develop a new cutting plane technique for robust combinatorial optimization problems with complicated constraints. In particular, efficient separation procedures are discussed. We compare the two formulations on a test bed composed of maritime transportation instances. These results show that the solution times are similar for both formulations while being significantly faster than the solutions times of a layered formulation recently proposed for the problem.     

A penalty-based edge assembly memetic algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with time windows

In this paper, we present an effective memetic algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW). The paper builds upon an existing edge assembly crossover (EAX) developed for the capacitated VRP. The adjustments of the EAX operator and the introduction of a novel penalty function to eliminate violations of the time window constraint as well as the capacity constraint from offspring solutions generated by the EAX operator have proven essential to the heuristic's performance. Experimental results on Solomon's and Gehring and Homberger benchmarks demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms previous approaches and is able to improve 184 best-known solutions out of 356 instances.     

A two-level location–allocation problem in designing local access fiber optic networks

This paper deals with a two-level facility location–allocation problem on tree topology arising from the design of access networks. The access network design problem seeks to find an optimal location of switch and allocation of demands such that the total cost of switch and fiber cable is minimized, while satisfying switch port constraint, switch capacity constraint, and no-split routing constraint. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer programming model and alternative formulations are developed by the reformulation-linearization technique (RLT) for improving computational effectiveness. By exploiting the tree structure of the problem, we develop some valid inequalities that have complementary strength and devise separation problems for finding effective valid inequalities that cut off fractional LP solutions. Also, we develop an effective MIP-based tree partitioning heuristic for finding good quality solutions for large size problems. Computational results demonstrate the efficacy of the valid inequalities and the proposed heuristic.     

多约束最短链路分离路径精确算法

在通信的源和目的间寻找两条(主用和备用)链路分离的QoS路径是提供可靠QoS路由的重要途径.现有求解多约束链路分离路径对(multi-constrained link-disjoint path pair,简称MCLPP)的算法难以保证求得存在于任意网络中的可行解和最优解.为解决这一问题,分析了MCLPP问题最优解的性质,提出了精确算法的设计原则,在此基础上给出了求解MCLPP问题的精确算法(link-disjoint optimal multi-constrained paths algorithm,简称LIDOMPA算法),可对任意网络求解客观存在的多约束最短链路分离路径对.为了降低算法的复杂性,引入了候选最优解、紧缩的约束向量和结构化的路径支配3种关键方法,在保障算法精确性的同时,有效地降低了LIDOMPA的搜索空间.大量的实验结果表明,LIDOMPA的求解能力优于现有算法,同时可以实现较低的算法执行时间开销.     

多约束最短链路分离路径精确算法

在通信的源和目的间寻找两条(主用和备用)链路分离的QoS路径是提供可靠QoS路由的重要途径.现有求解多约束链路分离路径对(multi-constrained link-disjoint path pair,简称MCLPP)的算法难以保证求得存在于任意网络中的可行解和最优解.为解决这一问题,分析了MCLPP问题最优解的性质,提出了精确算法的设计原则,在此基础上给出了求解MCLPP问题的精确算法(link-disjoint optimal multi-constrained paths algorithm,简称LIDOMPA算法),可对任意网络求解客观存在的多约束最短链路分离路径对.为了降低算法的复杂性,引入了候选最优解、紧缩的约束向量和结构化的路径支配3种关键方法,在保障算法精确性的同时,有效地降低了LIDOMPA的搜索空间.大量的实验结果表明,LIDOMPA的求解能力优于现有算法,同时可以实现较低的算法执行时间开销.     

A convex optimization approach for solving the single-vehicle cyclic inventory routing problem

This paper investigates the mathematical structure of the Single-Vehicle Cyclic Inventory Routing Problem (SV-CIRP). The SV-CIRP is an optimization problem consisting of finding a recurring distribution plan, from a single depot to a selected subset of retailers, that maximizes the collected rewards from the visited retailers while minimizing transportation and inventory costs. It appears as fundamental building block for all variants of the cyclic inventory routing problem (CIRP). One of the main complications in developing solution methods for the SV-CIRP using the current formulations is the non-convexity of the objective function. We demonstrate how the problem can be reformulated so that its continuous relaxation is a convex optimization problem. We further examine its mathematical properties and compare our findings with statements previously done in literature. Based of these findings we propose an algorithm that solves the SV-CIRP more effectively. We present experimental results on well-known benchmark instances, for which we are able to find optimal solutions for 22 out of 50 instances and obtained new best known solutions to 23 other instances.     

基于遗传算法的集送一体化的车辆路径问题

有时间窗的集送货一体化的车辆路径问题(VRPPDTW)是对经典的车辆路径问题(VRP)的扩展,是一类重要的组合优化问题,但是目前对该问题的研究非常有限。论文采用了新的染色体编码方法,设计了遗传算法对该问题进行求解。在求解过程中,对集送一体化、多种配送车辆类型的问题进行了有效处理,同时考虑了车辆载重量和时间窗等约束。最后的实验结果表明,该算法可以求得这类车辆路径问题的最优解或次优解。     

求解带容量和时间窗约束车辆路径问题的改进蝙蝠算法

带时间窗和容量约束的车辆路径问题是车辆路径问题重要的扩展之一,属于NP难题,精确算法的求解效率较低,且对于较大规模问题难以在有限时间内给出最优解.为了满足企业和客户快速有效的配送需求,使用智能优化算法可以在有限的时间内给出相对较优解.研究了求解带容量和时间窗约束车辆路径问题的改进离散蝙蝠算法,为增加扰动机制,提高搜索速度和精度,在对客户点按其所在位置进行聚类的基础上,在算法中引入了变步长搜索策略和两元素优化方法进行局部搜索.仿真实验结果表明,所设计算法具有较高寻优能力和较强的实用价值.     

Packing first,routing second—a heuristic for the vehicle routing and loading problem

The Vehicle Routing and Loading Problem (VRLP) results by combining vehicle routing, possibly with time windows, and three-dimensional loading. Some packing constraints of high practical relevance, among them an unloading sequence constraint and a support constraint, are also part of the VRLP. Different formulations of the VRLP are considered and the issue is discussed under which circumstances routing and packing should be tackled as a combined task. A two-stage heuristic is presented following a “packing first, routing second” approach, i.e. the packing of goods and the routing of vehicles is done in two strictly separated stages. High quality results are achieved in short computation times for the 46 VRLP instances recently introduced by Moura and Oliveira. Moreover 120 new large benchmark instances including up to 1000 customers and 50,000 boxes are introduced and results for these instances are also reported.