A multi-parametric evolution strategies algorithm for vehicle routing problems

David Mester, Olli Braysy, Wout Dullaert

    Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    Vehicle routing problems are at the heart of most decision support systems for real-life distribution problems. In vehicle routing problem a set of routes must be determined at lowest total cost for a number of resources (i.e. fleet of vehicles) located at one or several points (e.g. depots, warehouses) in order to efficiently service a number of demand or supply points. In this paper an efficient evolution strategies algorithm is developed for both capacitated vehicle routing problem and for vehicle routing problem with time window constraints. The algorithm is based on a new multi-parametric mutation procedure that is applied within the 1 + 1 evolution strategies algorithm. Computational testing on six real-life problems and 195 benchmark problems demonstrate that the suggested algorithm is efficient and highly competitive, improving or matching the current best-known solution in 42% of the test cases.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)508-517
    Number of pages10
    JournalExpert Systems with Applications
    Volume32
    Issue number2
    Early online date17 Jan 2006
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Feb 2007

    Keywords

    • Distribution management
    • Evolution strategies
    • Heuristics
    • Vehicle routing problem

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