A meta-heuristic algorithm for heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problems with two-dimensional loading constraints

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

98 Scopus Citations
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Author(s)

  • Stephen C.H. Leung
  • Zhenzhen Zhang
  • Defu Zhang
  • Xian Hua
  • Ming K. Lim

Related Research Unit(s)

Detail(s)

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)199-210
Journal / PublicationEuropean Journal of Operational Research
Volume225
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2013

Abstract

The two-dimensional loading heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem (2L-HFVRP) is a variant of the classical vehicle routing problem in which customers are served by a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles. These vehicles have different capacities, fixed and variable operating costs, length and width in dimension, and two-dimensional loading constraints. The objective of this problem is to minimize transportation cost of designed routes, according to which vehicles are used, to satisfy the customer demand. In this study, we proposed a simulated annealing with heuristic local search (SA-HLS) to solve the problem and the search was then extended with a collection of packing heuristics to solve the loading constraints in 2L-HFVRP. To speed up the search process, a data structure was used to record the information related to loading feasibility. The effectiveness of SA-HLS was tested on benchmark instances derived from the two-dimensional loading vehicle routing problem (2L-CVRP). In addition, the performance of SA-HLS was also compared with three other 2L-CVRP models and four HFVRP methods found in the literature. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Research Area(s)

  • Heterogeneous fleet, Packing, Routing, Simulated annealing

Citation Format(s)

A meta-heuristic algorithm for heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problems with two-dimensional loading constraints. / Leung, Stephen C.H.; Zhang, Zhenzhen; Zhang, Defu et al.
In: European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 225, No. 2, 01.03.2013, p. 199-210.

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review