The Pyramidal Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem

This paper introduces the Pyramidal Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (PCVRP) as a restricted version of the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP). In the PCVRP each route is required to be pyramidal in a sense generalized from the Pyramidal Traveling Salesman Problem (PTSP). A pyramidal route is de ned as a route on which the vehicle rst visits customers in increasing order of customer index, and on the remaining part of the route visits customers in decreasing order of customer index. Provided that customers are indexed in nondecreasing order of distance from the depot, the shape of a pyramidal route is such that its traversal can be divided in two parts, where on the rst part of the route, customers are visited in nondecreasing distance from the depot, and on the remaining part of the route, customers are visited in nonincreasing distance from the depot. Such a route shape is indeed found in many optimal solutions to CVRP instances. An optimal solution to the PCVRP may therefore be useful in itself as a heuristic solution to the CVRP. Further, an attempt can be made to nd an even better CVRP solution by solving a TSP, possibly leading to a non-pyramidal route, for each of the routes in the PCVRP solution. This paper develops an exact branch-and-cut-and-price (BCP) algorithm for the PCVRP. At the pricing stage, elementary routes can be computed in pseudo-polynomial time in the PCVRP, unlike in the CVRP. We have therefore implemented pricing algorithms that generate only elementary routes. Computational results suggest that PCVRP solutions are highly useful for obtaining near-optimal solutions to the CVRP. Moreover, pricing of pyramidal routes may due to its eciency prove to be very useful in column generation for the CVRP.vehicle routing; pyramidal traveling salesman; branch-and-cut-and-price

Reformulation and decomposition of integer programs

In this survey we examine ways to reformulate integer and mixed integer programs. Typically, but not exclusively, one reformulates so as to obtain stronger linear programming relaxations, and hence better bounds for use in a branch-and-bound based algorithm. First we cover in detail reformulations based on decomposition, such as Lagrangean relaxation, Dantzig-Wolfe column generation and the resulting branch-and-price algorithms. This is followed by an examination of Benders’ type algorithms based on projection. Finally we discuss in detail extended formulations involving additional variables that are based on problem structure. These can often be used to provide strengthened a priori formulations. Reformulations obtained by adding cutting planes in the original variables are not treated here.Integer program, Lagrangean relaxation, column generation, branch-and-price, extended formulation, Benders' algorithm

The Modified CW1 Algorithm for the Degree Restricted Minimum Spanning Tree Problem

Given edge weighted graph G (all weights are non-negative), The Degree Constrained Minimum Spanning Tree Problem is concerned with finding the minimum weight spanning tree T satisfying specified degree restrictions on the vertices. This problem arises naturally in communication networks where the degree of a vertex represents the number of line interfaces available at a terminal (center). The applications of the Degree Constrained Minimum Spanning Tree problems that may arise in real-life include: the design of telecommunication, transportation, and energy networks. It is also used as a subproblem in the design of networks for computer communication, transportation, sewage and plumbing. Since, apart from some trivial cases, the problem is computationally difficult (NP-complete), a number of heuristics have been proposed. In this paper we will discuss the modification of CW1 Algorithm that already proposed by Wamiliana and Caccetta (2003). The results on540 random table problems will be discussed

The Modified CW1 Algorithm For The Degree Restricted Minimum Spanning Tree Problem

Given edge weighted graph G (all weights are non-negative), The Degree Constrained Minimum Spanning Tree Problem is concerned with finding the minimum weight spanning tree T satisfying specified degree restrictions on the vertices. This problem arises naturally in communication networks where the degree of a vertex represents the number of line interfaces available at a terminal (center). The applications of the Degree Constrained Minimum Spanning Tree problems that may arise in real-life include: the design of telecommunication, transportation, and energy networks. It is also used as a subproblem in the design of networks for computer communication, transportation, sewage and plumbing. Since, apart from some trivial cases, the problem is computationally difficult (NP-complete), a number of heuristics have been proposed. In this paper we will discuss the modification of CW1 Algorithm that already proposed by Wamiliana and Caccetta (2003). The results on540 random table problems will be discussed

SCIL - Symbolic Constraints in Integer Linear Programming

We describe SCIL. SCIL introduces symbolic constraints into branch-and-cut-and-price algorithms for integer linear programs. Symbolic constraints are known from constraint programming and contribute significantly to the expressive power, ease of use, and efficiency of constraint programs

On the Number of Iterations for Dantzig-Wolfe Optimization and Packing-Covering Approximation Algorithms

We give a lower bound on the iteration complexity of a natural class of Lagrangean-relaxation algorithms for approximately solving packing/covering linear programs. We show that, given an input with $m$ random 0/1-constraints on $n$ variables, with high probability, any such algorithm requires $\Omega(\rho \log(m)/\epsilon^2)$ iterations to compute a $(1+\epsilon)$-approximate solution, where $\rho$ is the width of the input. The bound is tight for a range of the parameters $(m,n,\rho,\epsilon)$. The algorithms in the class include Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition, Benders' decomposition, Lagrangean relaxation as developed by Held and Karp [1971] for lower-bounding TSP, and many others (e.g. by Plotkin, Shmoys, and Tardos [1988] and Grigoriadis and Khachiyan [1996]). To prove the bound, we use a discrepancy argument to show an analogous lower bound on the support size of $(1+\epsilon)$-approximate mixed strategies for random two-player zero-sum 0/1-matrix games

Combinatorial Optimization and Integer Programming

Solution techniques for combinatorial optimization and integer programming problems are core disciplines in operations research with contributions of mathematicians as well as computer scientists and economists. This article surveys the state of the art in solving such problems to optimality

A relax and cut approach using the multi-commodity flow formulation for the traveling salesman problem

En este artículo nosotros exploramos una formulación de flujo multiproductos para el Problema del Agente Viajero Asimétrico (ATSP) en la obtención de cotas duales de este problema. El procedimiento empleado es una variante del método relax and cut propuesto en la literatura que computa los multiplicadores lagrangianos asociados a las restricciones de eliminación de subrutas preservando la optimalidad de los multiplicadores asociados a las restricciones de asignación. Los resultados obtenidos con la experimentación computacional son alentadores y muestran que el algoritmo propuesto genera buenas cotas duales con un tiempo de ejecución bajo. ABSTRACT In this paper we explore the multi-commodity flow formulation for the Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problem (ATSP) to obtain dual bounds. The procedure employed is a variant of a relax and cut procedure proposed in the literature that computes the Lagrangean multipliers associated to the subtour elimination constraints preserving the optimality of the multipliers associated to the assignment constraints. The results obtained by the computational study are encouraging and show that the proposed algorithm generated good dual bounds for the ATSP with a low execution time