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Volume 23, Issue 2 (6-2012)
Abstract
The Network Design Problem (NDP) is one of the important problems in combinatorial optimization. Among the network design problems, the Multicommodity Capacitated Network Design (MCND) problem has numerous applications in transportation, logistics, telecommunication, and production systems. The MCND problems with splittable flow variables are NP-hard, which means they require exponential time to be solved in optimality. With binary flow variables or unsplittable MCND, the complexity of the problem is increased significantly. With growing complexity and scale of real world capacitated network design applications, metaheuristics must be developed to solve these problems. This paper presents a simulated annealing approach with innovative representation and neighborhood structure for unsplittable MCND problem. The parameters of the proposed algorithms are tuned using Design of Experiments (DOE) method and the Design-Expert statistical software. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated by solving instances with different dimensions from OR-Library. The results of the proposed algorithm are compared with the solutions of CPLEX solver. The results show that the proposed SA can find near optimal solution in much less time than exact algorithm.
Ali Shahandeh Nookabadi, Mohammad Reza Yadoolahpour, Soheila Kavosh,
Volume 24, Issue 1 (2-2013)
Abstract
Network location models comprise one of the main categories of location models. These models have various applications in regional and urban planning as well as in transportation, distribution, and energy management. In a network location problem, nodes represent demand points and candidate locations to locate the facilities. If the links network is unchangeably determined, the problem will be an FLP (Facility Location Problem). However, if links can be added to the network at a reasonable cost, the problem will then be a combination of facility location and NDP (Network Design Problem) hence, called FLNDP (Facility Location Network Design Problem), a more general variant of FLP. In previous studies of this problem, capacity of facilities was considered to be a constraint while capacity of links was not considered at all. The proposed MIP model considers capacity of facilities and links as decision variables. This approach increases the utilization of facilities and links, and prevents the construction of links and location of facilities with low utilization. Furthermore, facility location cost (link construction cost) in the proposed model is supposed to be a function of the associated facility (link) capacity. Computational experiments as well as sensitivity analyses performed indicate the efficiency of the model.
