1,822 research outputs found

    A review of the Tabu Search Literature on Traveling Salesman Problems

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    The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is one of the most widely studied problems inrncombinatorial optimization. It has long been known to be NP-hard and hence research onrndeveloping algorithms for the TSP has focused on approximate methods in addition to exactrnmethods. Tabu search is one of the most widely applied metaheuristic for solving the TSP. Inrnthis paper, we review the tabu search literature on the TSP, point out trends in it, and bringrnout some interesting research gaps in this literature.

    A new exact algorithm for the multi-depot vehicle routing problem under capacity and route length constraints

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    This article presents an exact algorithm for the multi-depot vehicle routing problem (MDVRP) under capacity and route length constraints. The MDVRP is formulated using a vehicle-flow and a set-partitioning formulation, both of which are exploited at different stages of the algorithm. The lower bound computed with the vehicle-flow formulation is used to eliminate non-promising edges, thus reducing the complexity of the pricing subproblem used to solve the set-partitioning formulation. Several classes of valid inequalities are added to strengthen both formulations, including a new family of valid inequalities used to forbid cycles of an arbitrary length. To validate our approach, we also consider the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) as a particular case of the MDVRP, and conduct extensive computational experiments on several instances from the literature to show its effectiveness. The computational results show that the proposed algorithm is competitive against stateof-the-art methods for these two classes of vehicle routing problems, and is able to solve to optimality some previously open instances. Moreover, for the instances that cannot be solved by the proposed algorithm, the final lower bounds prove stronger than those obtained by earlier methods

    A simheuristic for routing electric vehicles with limited driving ranges and stochastic travel times

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    Green transportation is becoming relevant in the context of smart cities, where the use of electric vehicles represents a promising strategy to support sustainability policies. However the use of electric vehicles shows some drawbacks as well, such as their limited driving-range capacity. This paper analyses a realistic vehicle routing problem in which both driving-range constraints and stochastic travel times are considered. Thus, the main goal is to minimize the expected time-based cost required to complete the freight distribution plan. In order to design reliable Routing plans, a simheuristic algorithm is proposed. It combines Monte Carlo simulation with a multi-start metaheuristic, which also employs biased-randomization techniques. By including simulation, simheuristics extend the capabilities of metaheuristics to deal with stochastic problems. A series of computational experiments are performed to test our solving approach as well as to analyse the effect of uncertainty on the routing plans.Peer Reviewe

    A Branch-and-Cut Algorithm for the Capacitated Open Vehicle Routing Problem

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    In open vehicle routing problems, the vehicles are not required to return to the depot after completing service. In this paper, we present the first exact optimization algorithm for the open version of the well-known capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP). The algorithm is based on branch-and-cut. We show that, even though the open CVRP initially looks like a minor variation of the standard CVRP, the integer programming formulation and cutting planes need to be modified in subtle ways. Computational results are given for several standard test instances, which enables us for the first time to assess the quality of existing heuristic methods, and to compare the relative difficulty of open and closed versions of the same problem.Vehicle routing; branch-and-cut; separation

    Performance Comparison of Two-phase LP-based Heuristic Methods for Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Three Objectives

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    This paper develops a two-phase LP-based heuristic for the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP). It considers three objectives: (1) minimizing the total costs of fuel consumption and overtime, (2) maximizing the total personal relationships between customers and drivers, and (3) balancing the delivery weights of vehicles. The two-phase LP-based heuristic (cluster-first route-second) is proposed. First, in the clustering stage, three LP-based clustering models (denoted by C1, C2, and C3) are developed. Customers are grouped into clusters based on real distances between the customers for C1, personal relationships between the customers and drivers for C2, and the delivery weights of vehicles for C3. Second, in the routing stage, an LP-based traveling salesman problem model is used to form a route for each cluster, to minimize the total costs of fuel consumption and overtime labor. The experimental results from a case study of Thai SMEs show that when the C2 clustering model is applied, the performances are the best. Significant contributions of this paper include: (1) it is an original paper that proposes the C2 clustering model, and it has the best performances based on the experimental results, and (2) the proposed two-phase LP-based heuristic methods are suitable for practical use by SMEs since the required computational time is short, and it has multiple models with different objectives that can be selected to match a user's requirements
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