Optimizing barge utilization in hinterland container transportation

In hinterland container transportation the use of barges is getting more and more important. We propose a real‐life operational planning problem model from an inland terminal operating company, in which the number of containers shipped per barge is maximized and the number of terminals visited per barge is minimized. This problem is solved with an integer linear program (ILP), yielding strong cost reductions, about 20%, compared to the method used currently in practice. Besides, we develop a heuristic that solves the ILP in two stages. First, it decides for each barge which terminals to visit and second it assigns containers to the barges. This heuristic produces almost always optimal solutions and otherwise near‐optimal solutions. Moreover, the heuristic runs much faster than the ILP, especially for large‐sized instances.     

恒速航行原理的数学证明与分析

提出并证明了船舶经济航行的基本原理———恒速航行原理 .先将实际船舶航行中最经济航行的航速选择这个一般性问题抽象成纯数学问题 :在规定的时间内从A地航行到B地 ,如何选择航速以使推进系统总耗功最省 ;然后在数学上证明恒速航行原理 ,即恒速航行是船舶经济航行唯一的选择 ;最后 ,将该原理推广到其它交通手段 ,如车辆行驶和飞机飞行     

Contractual agreements for coordination and vendor‐managed delivery under explicit transportation considerations

We consider the coordination problem between a vendor and a buyer operating under generalized replenishment costs that include fixed costs as well as stepwise freight costs. We study the stochastic demand, single‐period setting where the buyer must decide on the order quantity to satisfy random demand for a single item with a short product life cycle. The full order for the cycle is placed before the cycle begins and no additional orders are accepted by the vendor. Due to the nonrecurring nature of the problem, the vendor's replenishment quantity is determined by the buyer's order quantity. Consequently, by using an appropriate pricing schedule to influence the buyer's ordering behavior, there is an opportunity for the vendor to achieve substantial savings from transportation expenses, which are represented in the generalized replenishment cost function. For the problem of interest, we prove that the vendor's expected profit is not increasing in buyer's order quantity. Therefore, unlike the earlier work in the area, it is not necessarily profitable for the vendor to encourage larger order quantities. Using this nontraditional result, we demonstrate that the concept of economies of scale may or may not work by identifying the cases where the vendor can increase his/her profits either by increasing or decreasing the buyer's order quantity. We prove useful properties of the expected profit functions in the centralized and decentralized models of the problem, and we utilize these properties to develop alternative incentive schemes for win–win solutions. Our analysis allows us to quantify the value of coordination and, hence, to identify additional opportunities for the vendor to improve his/her profits by potentially turning a nonprofitable transaction into a profitable one through the use of an appropriate tariff schedule or a vendor‐managed delivery contract. We demonstrate that financial gain associated with these opportunities is truly tangible under a vendor‐managed delivery arrangement that potentially improves the centralized solution. Although we take the viewpoint of supply chain coordination and our goal is to provide insights about the effect of transportation considerations on the channel coordination objective and contractual agreements, the paper also contributes to the literature by analyzing and developing efficient approaches for solving the centralized problem with stepwise freight costs in the single‐period setting. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

Algorithms for the multi‐item multi‐vehicles dynamic lot sizing problem

We consider a two‐stage supply chain, in which multi‐items are shipped from a manufacturing facility or a central warehouse to a downstream retailer that faces deterministic external demand for each of the items over a finite planning horizon. The items are shipped through identical capacitated vehicles, each incurring a fixed cost per trip. In addition, there exist item‐dependent variable shipping costs and inventory holding costs at the retailer for items stored at the end of the period; these costs are constant over time. The sum of all costs must be minimized while satisfying the external demand without backlogging. In this paper we develop a search algorithm to solve the problem optimally. Our search algorithm, although exponential in the worst case, is very efficient empirically due to new properties of the optimal solution that we found, which allow us to restrict the number of solutions examined. Second, we perform a computational study that compares the empirical running time of our search methods to other available exact solution methods to the problem. Finally, we characterize the conditions under which each of the solution methods is likely to be faster than the others and suggest efficient heuristic solutions that we recommend using when the problem is large in all dimensions. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006.     

Transporting jobs through a two‐machine open shop

We consider the two‐machine open shop scheduling problem in which the jobs are brought to the system by a single transporter and moved between the processing machines by the same transporter. The purpose is to split the jobs into batches and to find the sequence of moves of the transporter so that the time by which the completed jobs are collected together on board the transporter is minimal. We present a ‐approximation algorithm. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2009     

顺序输送管道混油浓度PHOENICS数值模拟

针对现有一些顺序输送混油计算公式中存在的问题,在κ-ε紊流模型和使用壁面函数法处理近壁区问题的理论基础上,提出了顺序输送混油新的模型,并利用PHOENICS软件成功地对该模型进行了数值求解.且首次以图像的形式直观地显示出管内的混油浓度分布,并通过浓度曲线的对比,对油品输送次序对混油的影响进行了分析.研究结果表明:计算机模拟能够为顺序输送混油机理的研究提供一个较为准确而便利的手段.同时也对影响混油的其他一些因素(高差、阀件、温度等)的研究提供了参考与帮助.     

火场战斗力量转移的优化设计

在一些特殊火灾扑救中,如何在总战斗力量一定的情况下从中抽调部分力量去处置新的灾害事故,这就涉及到一个战斗力量转移的优化配置问题。探讨建立了消防力量优化配置的模型,同时试运用运输模型来求解得出优化配置方案。     

Optimal empty vehicle redistribution for hub‐and‐spoke transportation systems

This article considers the empty vehicle redistribution problem in a hub‐and‐spoke transportation system, with random demands and stochastic transportation times. An event‐driven model is formulated, which yields the implicit optimal control policy. Based on the analytical results for two‐depot systems, a dynamic decomposition procedure is presented which produces a near‐optimal policy with linear computational complexity in terms of the number of spokes. The resulting policy has the same asymptotic behavior as that of the optimal policy. It is found that the threshold‐type control policy is not usually optimal in such systems. The results are illustrated through small‐scale numerical examples. Through simulation the robustness of the dynamic decomposition policy is tested using a variety of scenarios: more spokes, more vehicles, different combinations of distribution types for the empty vehicle travel times and loaded vehicle arrivals. This shows that the dynamic decomposition policy is significantly better than a heuristics policy in all scenarios and appears to be robust to the assumptions of the distribution types. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008     

常规导弹战前运输任务优化模型

制定常规导弹战前运输计划时,各车辆运输时间和运输路线的安排是一个组合优化问题.运用军事运筹学和不确定性优化理论,充分考虑节点冲突性、车辆隐蔽性、任务时间、道路容量等因素,建立了运输任务方案的优化模型.该研究为常规导弹波次作战计划的制定和优化提供模型支持,有助于提高常规导弹作战指挥自动化和部队的生存能力.     

管线探堵理论分析及实验研究

介绍了管线探堵主要方法及特点。分析了埋地管线水力瞬变探堵的理论基础,建立埋地管线快速探堵的数学模型,进行了数值模拟计算和分析,并进行了实验研究。实验证明,根据水力瞬变特性探堵可以快速准确确定堵点位置。水力瞬变探堵系统具有精度高、速度快、设备简单、使用方便、用途广等特点。