2237. Modeling and Solving the Disaster Relief Supplies Allocation and Distribution Problem with Efficiency and Fairness Considerations
Invited abstract in session TB-7: Scheduling in humanitarian operations, stream Scheduling and Project Management.
Tuesday, 10:30-12:00Room: Clarendon GR.01
Authors (first author is the speaker)
| 1. | Istenc Tarhan
|
| University College Dublin | |
| 2. | Konstantinos G. Zografos
|
| Department of Management Science, Lancaster University Management School |
Abstract
This study focuses on the allocation and distribution of relief supplies that need to be transported from central warehouses to disaster-affected areas. We consider a multi-layer transportation network, where the first layer consists of central warehouses, the last layer includes impacted areas and the intermediate layers serve as transshipment locations. Relief supplies move in one direction, from the central warehouses to the impacted areas, with the intermediate layers used for cross-docking and temporary storage. Each warehouse and transshipment location operates its own fleet, and various transportation modes may be employed between layers, depending on the fleet type.
We first propose a time-expanded network model to generate vehicle schedules that optimize distribution efficiency, ensure equitable distribution of supplies in terms of both quantity and arrival time, and minimize overall costs. To achieve these objectives, we utilize a hybrid approach combining the epsilon constraint method with goal programming, allowing us to solve sequential single-objective versions of the original problem. For large-scale instances, we develop a matheuristic algorithm to efficiently solve the single-objective subproblems.
Computational experiments show the successful performance of the proposed approach and offer valuable managerial and methodological insights.
Keywords
- Humanitarian Applications
- Scheduling
- Transportation
Status: accepted
Back to the list of papers