Exact and heuristic algorithms for solving the generalized vehicle routing problem with flexible fleet size

Abstract

The generalized vehicle routing problem with flexible fleet size (GVRP‐flex) extends the classical capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) by partitioning the set of required nodes into clusters and has interesting applications such as humanitarian logistics. The problem aims at minimizing the total cost for a set of routes, such that each cluster is visited exactly once and its total demand is delivered to one of its nodes. An exact method based on column generation (CG) and two metaheuristics derived from iterated local search are proposed for the case with flexible fleet size. On five sets of benchmarks, including a new one, the CG approach often provides good upper and lower bounds, whereas the metaheuristics find, in a few seconds, solutions with small optimality gaps.

Emergency scheduling of engineering rescue tasks in disaster relief operations and its application in China

“…In recent years, given that there is an ever‐growing concern with increasing frequency and scale of disasters, emergency planning and scheduling problems in disaster relief operations have received more and more attention from both researchers and practitioners (Zheng et al., ). The most widely studied problems are those for emergency path planning (e.g., Wang et al., ; Yuan and Wang, ; Ma et al., ), vehicle routing (e.g., Haghani et al., ; Wang et al., ; Wohlgemuth et al., ; Afsar et al., ; Zheng et al., ), and relief (supplies) distribution (e.g., Haghani and Oh, ; Özdamar et al., ; Tzeng et al., ; Chern et al., ; Zheng and Ling, ; Zheng, ). However, studies on the emergency rescue and repair scheduling in the literature are relatively few.…”

A Genetic Algorithm in Combination with a Solution Archive for Solving the Generalized Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Demands

“…up to 50 nodes and 25 clusters. More elaborate exact methods include branch-and-cut algorithms by Bektaş et al (2011) and Hà et al (2014), with the latter being based on a two-commodity flow model, and a column generation approach by Afsar et al (2014). The latter presents also two heuristics based on a route-first, cluster-second approach, in which the split procedure is executed using an iterated local search.…”

“…In practice, the redistribu-tion within each area is then carried out by the customers. Practical examples of this generalization are disaster relief operations to distribute medical staff or equipment to damaged sites (Afsar et al 2014) and the distribution of goods over sea to a number of customers in an archipelago, where each island has several ports from which the actual point of delivery can be chosen (Ghiani and Improta 2000). Ghiani and Improta (2000) originally introduced this VRP variant and named it Generalized Vehicle Routing Problem.…”

Gestión de la logística humanitaria en las etapas previas al desastre: revisión sistemática de la literatura

“…La logística humanitaria involucra todas las acciones dirigidas a la mitigación del riesgo, a reducir el impacto del desastre y a retornar al estado de normalidad (Hoyos, et al, 2015), las cuales se dividen en cuatro etapas: mitigación, preparación, respuesta y recuperación (Van Wassenhove, 2006;FEMA, 2010;Afsar, et al, 2014;Anaya-Arenas, et al, 2014;Rivera, et al, 2015). Este enfoque de cuatro etapas permite abarcar la planeación del sistema desde los niveles estratégico, táctico y operativo (Rancourt, et al, 2015).…”