Search results for "Operations Research"
showing 10 items of 1297 documents
A double genetic algorithm for the MRCPSP/max
2011
This paper presents a heuristic solution procedure for a very general resource-constrained project scheduling problem. Here, multiple execution modes are available for the individual activities of the project. In addition, minimum as well as maximum time lags between different activities may be given. The objective is to determine a mode and a start time for each activity such that the temporal and resource constraints are met and the project duration is minimised. Project scheduling problems of this type occur e.g. in process industries. The heuristic is a two-phased genetic algorithm with different representation, fitness, crossover operator, etc., in each of them. One of the contribution…
Active-guided evolution strategies for large-scale capacitated vehicle routing problems
2007
We present an adaptation of the active-guided evolution strategies metaheuristic for the capacitated vehicle routing problem. The capacitated vehicle routing problem is a classical problem in operations research in which a set of minimum total cost routes must be determined for a fleet of identical capacitated vehicles in order to service a number of demand or supply points. The applied metaheuristic combines the strengths of the well-known guided local search and evolution strategies metaheuristics into an iterative two-stage procedure. The computational experiments were carried out on a set of 76 benchmark problems. The results demonstrate that the suggested method is highly competitive, …
Scheduling in a continuous galvanizing line
2009
In this paper we address a sequencing problem in a Continuous Galvanizing Line of a Spanish Steel Company. Production scheduling in this context is an extremely complex task which needs to take into account many constraints. We present a conceptually simple model and a Tabu Search (TS) algorithm that efficiently solves it. The TS moves are defined in order to repair non-satisfied constraints, leading to smaller and more efficient neighbourhoods. The TS co-ordinates several intensification and diversification procedures guided by an evaluation function based on a shifting penalty strategy. This function reinforces the anticycling mechanism and makes the algorithm avoid already visited soluti…
GRASP and path relinking for the equitable dispersion problem
2013
The equitable dispersion problem consists in selecting a subset of elements from a given set in such a way that a measure of dispersion is maximized. In particular, we target the Max-Mean dispersion model in which the average distance between the selected elements is maximized. We first review previous methods and mathematical formulations for this and related dispersion problems and then propose a GRASP with a Path Relinking in which the local search is based on the Variable Neighborhood methodology. Our method is specially suited for instances in which the distances represent affinity and are not restricted to take non-negative values. The computational experience with 120 instances shows…
Variable neighborhood search for the linear ordering problem
2006
Given a matrix of weights, the linear ordering problem (LOP) consists of finding a permutation of the columns and rows in order to maximize the sum of the weights in the upper triangle. This NP-complete problem can also be formulated in terms of graphs, as finding an acyclic tournament with a maximal sum of arc weights in a complete weighted graph. In this paper, we first review the previous methods for the LOP and then propose a heuristic algorithm based on the variable neighborhood search (VNS) methodology. The method combines different neighborhoods for an efficient exploration of the search space. We explore different search strategies and propose a hybrid method in which the VNS is cou…
A tabu thresholding algorithm for arc crossing minimization in bipartite graphs
1996
Acyclic directed graphs are commonly used to model complex systems. The most important criterion to obtain a readable map of an acyclic graph is that of minimizing the number of arc crossings. In this paper, we present a heuristic for solving the problem of minimizing the number of arc crossings in a bipartite graph. It consists of a novel and easier implementation of fundamental tabu search ideas without explicit use of memory structures (a tabu thresholding approach). Computational results are reported on a set of 250 randomly generated test problems. Our algorithm has been compared with the two best heuristics published in the literature and with the optimal solutions for the test proble…
Adaptive memory programming for constrained global optimization
2010
The problem of finding a global optimum of a constrained multimodal function has been the subject of intensive study in recent years. Several effective global optimization algorithms for constrained problems have been developed; among them, the multi-start procedures discussed in Ugray et al. [1] are the most effective. We present some new multi-start methods based on the framework of adaptive memory programming (AMP), which involve memory structures that are superimposed on a local optimizer. Computational comparisons involving widely used gradient-based local solvers, such as Conopt and OQNLP, are performed on a testbed of 41 problems that have been used to calibrate the performance of su…
Optimal Sizing and Siting of Distributed Energy Resources Considering Public and Private Incentive Policies
2008
The present work presents the formulation and solution approach for the problem of optimal sizing and siting of distributed energy resources based on Photovoltaic, PV, technology. The considered system is an isolated grid (small island) and the parts involved are the utility and the customers. As it happens in islands, the same utility generates and delivers energy to customers, for this reason, the installation of dispersed generation units is beneficial for reducing power losses, regularizing the voltage profile, but also for increasing the profit. The problem is solved by means of the Non dominated sorting Genetic Algorithm II, NSGA-II, identifying the optimal size and location of PV sys…
Constructive procedures to solve 2-dimensional bin packing problems with irregular pieces and guillotine cuts
2015
Abstract This paper presents an approach for solving a new real problem in cutting and packing. At its core is an innovative mixed integer programme model that places irregular pieces and defines guillotine cuts. The two-dimensional irregular shape bin packing problem with guillotine constraints arises in the glass cutting industry, for example, the cutting of glass for conservatories. Almost all cutting and packing problems that include guillotine cuts deal with rectangles only, where all cuts are orthogonal to the edges of the stock sheet and a maximum of two angles of rotation are permitted. The literature tackling packing problems with irregular shapes largely focuses on strip packing i…
An exact algorithm for the fuzzy p-median problem
1999
In this paper we propose a fuzzy version of the classical p-median problem. We consider a fuzzy set of constraints so that the decision-maker will be able to take into account solutions which provide significantly lower costs by leaving a part of the demand uncovered. We propose an algorithm for solving the problem which is based on Hakimi's works and we compare the crisp and the fuzzy approach by means of an example.