GRASP with a New Local Search Scheme for Vehicle Routing Problems with Time Windows

The NP-Hard Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (VRPTW) is one of the major transportation problems. In this paper, a Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP) for VRPTW is discussed for minimizing the fleet size and the travel distance. There are two phases within each GRASP iteration: construction phase and local search phase. In the construction phase, the initial solution is computed by applying an adaptive randomized greedy function. In the local search phase, the search procedure is applied to the constructed initial solution obtained by the construction phase for an improvement. In this paper, we propose an improved solution technique by using new local search ideas and new lower bounding procedures. In addition, we report computational results and address some practical issues in this area.     

多车场带时间窗车辆路径问题的变邻域搜索算法

多车场带时间窗车辆路径问题是车辆路径问题集合中的一个极为复杂、且仍未得到较好解决的问题。针对这一问题,建立了它的整数规划数学模型,提出了一种改进型变邻域搜索算法。该算法在初始解的构造阶段采用聚类方法完成客户的分配,运用混合算子进行局部搜索,通过后优化过程增强寻优效果,引入模拟退火模型对新解的接受进行控制。最后,在Cordeau提出的标准用例上对改进型变邻域算法进行了实验,实验结果更新了大部分目前该问题的最优解,并在算法的稳定性和求解时间上体现出一定优势。实验表明,该算法是一种求解多车场带时间窗车辆路径问题的有效方法。     

考虑三维装箱约束的车辆路径问题研究

针对实际物流配送问题的特点,建立考虑三维装箱约束的车辆路径问题模型,提出求解该问题的引导式局部搜索算法。采用改进的模糊遗传算法求解车辆路径问题,提出一种新的模糊逻辑控制器,并采用引导式局部搜索算法求解三维装箱问题。通过计算标准算例检验算法性能,试验结果表明引导式局部搜索算法能够在较短时间内得到质量较高的近似最优解。     

动态需求下车辆路径问题的周期性优化模型及求解

针对客户点不断更新的动态需求车辆路径问题,依据滚动时域对配送中心工作时间进行划分,提出基于延迟服务的周期性客户点实时重置策略,策略中延迟服务机制能结合车辆启动延迟系数对照当前时域的时间进行检验,满足所有客户点的服务需求,保证车辆满足中心时间窗约束。设计多阶段求解的混合变邻域人工蜂群算法对各时间片内子问题进行连续迭代优化,算法中子路径动态转变的设计能较好平衡原有客户点和新客户点对路径更新和车辆实时信息匹配的要求。算例验证及对比分析表明本文策略和算法在求解动态问题时的有效性和可行性。     

带时间窗装卸货问题的改进多策略分组编码遗传算法

通过研究求解PDPTW的分组编码遗传算法（GGA）及多策略分组编码遗传算法（MSGGA），改进了GGA中的交叉算子及MSGGA中的路径调整策略，提出了易位组合交叉算子、单车路径重排策略及需求对换策略。求解了400个客户点的标准算例集，其中4个算例lc2_4_3、lrc1_4_1、lrc2_4_2和lrc2_4_3的行驶总路程有所减少。     

多油品供给受限下多油库被动配送车辆路径问题研究

成品油供给不足将导致加油站油品订单无法完全满足,如何安排有限油品的合理配送对保障能源供给安全至关重要。为此,本文考虑有限供给下不同客户配送的优先次序,开展配送计划、车辆调度和路径优化等油品配送网络规划活动,对多油品供给受限情况下多油库被动配送车辆路径问题（Multiple Depot Vehicle Routing Problem,MDVRP）进行深入研究。首先,文章构建了考虑需求优先等级和配送成本的多油品多油库车辆路径规划多目标优化模型。其次,采用多目标粒子群优化算法（Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization,MOPSO）对模型进行求解,以实现车辆高效调度和油品配送路径优化。最后,基于CNPC在青岛市部分油库和加油站点的数据信息,构建油品配送网络进行实证检验。算例结果显示,配送车辆路径经过优化后,生成Pareto非劣解集,配送成本显著降低,配送满足率明显提高,这也进一步验证了该模型及相关算法的可行性和有效性。     

低碳环境下的车辆路径问题及禁忌搜索算法研究

基于节能减排的新视角,本文研究了低碳环境下由第三方提供运输服务的车辆路径问题,在安排车辆路径时,同时考虑了能耗、碳排放和租车费用,而这些费用不仅与距离有关,也与客户点的需求量和车辆速度有关。提出了考虑车辆运量和速度的能耗计算方法,建立了非满载运输方式下的低碳路径模型——LCRP。设计了基于路径划分的禁忌搜索算法RS-TS对问题进行求解,该算法引入了一种新颖的路径编码与解码算法WSS,采用了三种邻域搜索方法。通过基准测试实例验证了算法能有效地找到满意解,并揭示了距离、能耗、行驶时间等参数之间的关系,实验分析表明采用低碳路径安排更加经济环保且选择中低的交通速度更有利于节约能耗和降低碳排放。     

用混合遗传算法求解物流配送路径优化问题的研究

论文建立了物流配送路径优化问题的数学模型,并针对遗传算法在局部搜索能力方面的不足,提出将爬山算法与遗传算法相结合,从而构造了求解物流配送路径优化问题的混合遗传算法,并进行了实验计算。计算结果表明,用混合遗传算法求解物流配送路径优化问题,可以在一定程度上克服遗传算法在局部搜索能力方面的不足和爬山算法在全局搜索能力方面的不足,从而得到质量较高的解。     

Distribution with Quality of Service Considerations: The Capacitated Routing Problem with Profits and Service Level Requirements

Inspired by a problem arising in cash logistics, we propose the Capacitated Routing Problem with Profits and Service Level Requirements (CRPPSLR). The CRPPSLR extends the class of Routing Problems with Profits by considering customers requesting deliveries to their (possibly multiple) service points. Moreover, each customer imposes a service level requirement specifying a minimum-acceptable bound on the fraction of its service points being delivered. A customer-specific financial penalty is incurred by the logistics service provider when this requirement is not met. The CRPPSLR consists in finding vehicle routes maximizing the difference between the collected revenues and the incurred transportation and penalty costs in such a way that vehicle capacity and route duration constraints are met. A fleet of homogeneous vehicles is available for serving the customers. We design a branch-and-cut algorithm and evaluate the usefulness of valid inequalities that have been effectively used for the capacitated vehicle routing problem and, more recently, for other routing problems with profits. A real-life case study taken from the cash supply chain in the Netherlands highlights the relevance of the problem under consideration. Computational results illustrate the performance of the proposed solution approach under different input parameter settings for the synthetic instances. For instances of real-life problems, we distinguish between coin and banknote distribution, as vehicle capacities only matter when considering the former. Finally, we report on the effectiveness of the valid inequalities in closing the optimality gap at the root node for both the synthetic and the real-life instances and conclude with a sensitivity analysis on the most significant input parameters of our model.     

大规模邻域搜索算法求解时变车辆调度问题

对时变网络车辆调度问题提出一种满足先入先出准则的时变处理方法,并建立相应的数学模型,提出一种基于大规模邻域搜索技术的智能优化算法进行求解,算法顶层采用动态规划算法搜索环状交换邻域以得到每辆车的最佳服务顾客集合;底层设计动态搜索算法用以安排每辆车的最佳服务路线.在此基础上提出顶层加入虚拟顾客和底层嵌入insert两类改进策略.通过实验仿真比较,验证了所提算法的有效性.     

车辆路径问题的模型及算法研究综述

本文在文献[1,2,3,4]的基础上,首先,介绍了车辆路径问题的分类和限制条件;然后,全面综述了国内外关于车辆路径问题的模型及算法研究现状,重点探讨了车辆路径问题的模型构造、求解算法及其适用范围;最后,展望了其研究的前景。     

车辆路径问题的禁忌搜索算法研究

论文在对车辆路径问题进行简单描述的基础上,通过设计一种新的解的表示方法构造了求解该问题的一种新的禁忌搜索算法,并进行了实验计算。计算结果表明,用本文设计的禁忌搜索算法求解车辆路径问题,不仅可以取得很好的计算结果,而且算法的计算效率较高,收敛速度较快,计算结果也较稳定。     

A reactive tabu search algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickups and deliveries

The vehicle routing problem with pickups and deliveries (VRPPD) extends the vehicle routing problem (VRP) by allowing customers to both send and receive goods. The main difficulty of the problem is that the load of vehicles is fluctuating rather than decreasing as in the VRP. We design a reactive tabu search metaheuristic that can check feasibility of proposed moves quickly and reacts to repetitions to guide the search. Several new best solutions are found for benchmark problems.     

An exponential (matching based) neighborhood for the vehicle routing problem

We introduce an exponential neighborhood for the Vehicle Routing Problem (vrp) with unit customers’ demands, and we show that it can be explored efficiently in polynomial time by reducing its exploration to a particular case of the Restricted Complete Matching (rcm) problem that we prove to be polynomial time solvable using flow techniques. Furthermore, we show that in the general case with non-unit customers’ demands the exploration of the neighborhood becomes an -hard problem.     

Integrated planning of inbound and outbound logistics with a Rich Vehicle Routing Problem with backhauls

This paper addresses the integration of the planning decisions concerning inbound logistics in an industrial setting (from the suppliers to the mill) and outbound logistics (from the mill to customers). The goal is to find the minimum cost routing plan, which includes the cost-effective outbound and inbound daily routes (OIRs), consisting of a sequence of deliveries of customer orders, pickup of a full truck-load at a supplier, and its delivery to the mill. This study distinguishes between three planning strategies: opportunistic backhauling planning (OBP), integrated inbound and outbound planning (IIOP) and decoupled planning (DIOP), the latter being the commonly used, particularly in the case of the wood-based panel industry under study. From the point of view of process integration, OBP can be considered as an intermediate stage from DIOP to IIOP. The problem is modelled as a Vehicle Routing Problem with Backhauls, enriched with case-specific rules for visiting the backhaul, split deliveries to customers and the use of a heterogeneous fleet. A new fix-and-optimise matheuristic is proposed for this problem, seeking to obtain good quality solutions within a reasonable computational time. The results from its application to the wood-based panel industry in Portugal show that IIOP can help to reduce total costs in about 2.7%, when compared with DIOP, due to better use of the delivery truck and a reduction of the number of dedicated inbound routes. Regarding OBP, fostering the use of OIRs does not necessarily lead to better routing plans than DIOP, as it depends upon a favourable geographical configuration of the set of customers to be visited in a day, specifically, the relative distance between a linehaul that can be visited last in a route, a neighboring backhaul, and a mill. The paper further provides valuable managerial insights on how the routing plan is impacted by the values of business-related model parameters which are set by the planner with some degree of uncertainty. Results suggest that increasing the maximum length of the route will likely have the largest impact in reducing transportation costs. Moreover, increasing the value of a reward paid for visiting a backhaul can foster the percentage of OIR in the optimal routing plan.     

求解带时间窗的客户需求可分条件下的车辆路径问题

物流运输中的车辆路径问题历来是一个重要的理论和实际问题,在同时考虑客户需求可分以及客户方和配送中心时间窗限制的前提下,重新构造了问题模型,并结合蚂蚁算法中转移概率的改进和最大-最小蚂蚁系统,设计了问题求解过程和分割点选取规则,计算结果显示出算法的可行性。另外还与客户需求不可分的情况进行了对比,从而说明在大规模物流运输需求下,可分能带来更好的效果。     

An iterated local search with multiple perturbation operators and time varying perturbation strength for the aircraft landing problem

Landing aircraft safely is an important operation that air traffic controllers have to deal with on a daily basis. For each arriving aircraft a runway and a landing time must be allocated. If these allocations can be done in an efficient way, it could give the airport a competitive advantage. The Aircraft Landing Problem (ALP) aims to minimize the deviation from a preferred target time of each aircraft. It is an NP-hard problem, meaning that we may have to resort to heuristic methods as exact methods may not be suitable, especially as the problem size increases. This paper proposes an iterated local search (ILS) algorithm for the ALP. ILS is a single solution based search methodology that successively invokes a local search procedure to find a local optimum solution. A perturbation operator is used to modify the current solution in order to escape from the local optimum and to provide a new solution for the local search procedure. As different problems and/or instances have different characteristics, the success of the ILS is highly dependent on the local search, the perturbation operator(s) and the perturbation strength. To address these issues, we utilize four perturbation operators and a time varying perturbation strength which changes as the algorithm progresses. A variable neighborhood descent algorithm is used as our local search. The proposed ILS generates high quality solutions for the ALP benchmark instances taken from the scientific literature, demonstrating its efficiency in terms of both solution quality and computational time. Moreover, the proposed ILS produces new best results for some instances.     

Heuristic Procedures for Practical-Sized Uncapacitated Location-Capacitated Routing Problems*

Facility location and vehicle routing are two important logistical problems closely interrelated in many real-world applications where locating facilities and determining the associated multi-stop vehicle routes are required simultaneously. Previous research has found that using the classical facility location models on these location-routing problems (LRPs) may lead to suboptimal solutions. We propose an approximate approach for the LRPs, which first generates and improves feasible location/allocation schemes with the associated multi-stop routing costs approximated using some route length estimators. We then design the minimum-cost routes based on the location/allocation results. We review two estimators that can provide accurate approximations to the multi-stop route distances; define the uncapacitated location-capacitated routing problem; and evaluate several heuristic procedures for approximately solving the problem. Computational results show that when vehicle capacities are not too restrictive, the sequential procedures that incorporate the two robust route length estimators can produce good solutions to practical-sized problems with a reasonable amount of computational efforts.     

Pareto mimic algorithm: An approach to the team orienteering problem

The team orienteering problem is an important variant of the vehicle routing problem. In this paper, a new algorithm, called Pareto mimic algorithm, is proposed to deal with it. This algorithm maintains a population of incumbent solutions which are updated using Pareto dominance. It uses a new operator, called mimic operator, to generate a new solution by imitating an incumbent solution. Furthermore, to improve the quality of a solution, it employs an operator, called swallow operator which attempts to swallow (or insert) an infeasible node and then repair the resulting infeasible solution. A comparative study supports the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, especially, our algorithm can quickly find new better results for several large-scale instances. We also demonstrate that Pareto mimic algorithm can be generalized to solve other routing problems, e.g., the capacitated vehicle routing problem.     

Combinatorial analysis for route first-cluster second vehicle routing

Two Route first-cluster second vehicle routing algorithms are contrasted in the first section of the paper. Next, the ‘large’ number of feasible solutions to a multiple travelling salesman problem is established given that each salesman can visit any number of customers in a stated range. An approximate expression is given for the ‘small’ fraction of this solution space searched by a route first-cluster second vehicle routing heuristic. Nevertheless, this heuristic is seen to be a very efficient means of searching its solution space.