Optimizing covering tours for the distribution of disaster relief items using competitive location models

Beschreibung

We consider the problem of designing the logistic system to assure adequate Distribution of relief aid after a natural disaster. We face the situation, where the Population members stay in the a ected regions and need to be supplied with food and drinking water. These relief items are to be transported from a central depot to distribution centers, where they are handed out to the population in need. The problem is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem, encompassing two objective functions of central interest in such problems. The underlying competitive Covering Tour Problem (CTP) aims at minimizing (i) total uncovered demand and (ii) total distribution costs. We include modeling approaches for customer behavior as they have been developed in the eld of competitive location models. In disaster relief, the provision of help by different organizations should not be competitive, such that we face a di erent situation, but as the mentioned approaches possibly allow to predict the behavior of the individuals a ected by a disaster in more detail, they may enable a more e cient organization of the relief logistics. Depending on the distribution centers made available to the population members, they will make decisions where to go to (if at all), which is an important information for health providing organizations, such that supplies can be delivered to the right places in the right quantities. We solve the multi-objective competitive CTP with the Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (Deb et al., 2002) and compare the proposed solutions to the Pareto-optimal solutions generated with a Brute Force Complete Enumeration procedure. The suggested metaheuristic solution approach is tested on real-world data from the southern part of Mozambique near the river Limpopo, which is regularly a ected by drought. The sets of solutions are evaluated using the hypervolume indicator as proposed by Zitzler and Thiele (1998).

Zeitraum	9 Apr. 2014 → 11 Apr. 2014
Ereignistitel	APMOD 2014 - International Conference on Applied Mathematical Optimization and Modelling
Veranstaltungstyp	Sonstiges
Bekanntheitsgrad	International