Designing a hazardous materials transportation network by a bi-level programming based on toll policies

A vehicle routing problem of hazardous materials transportation is studied in this paper. Firstly, the maximum permissible flow of the road section is calculated according to the social risk and accident rate values. Secondly, based on the structural measures and basic transportation network, the maximum permissible flow of the road section is taken as road section capacity, the minimum risk is taken as general minimum cost , and a minimum cost and maximum flow method is introduced to solve the flow distribution problem of hazardous materials transportation. Finally, the effectiveness of the method is illustrated with a simple numerical example.

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Optimization for Hazardous Materials Transportation Network Based on Toll Policies

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.1030-1032.2061 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 1030-1032 ◽

pp. 2061-2064

Author(s):

Lu Kai Zhang ◽

Cheng Cheng Zhou ◽

Zhen Wang

Keyword(s):

Comparative Analysis ◽

Transportation Network ◽

Hazardous Materials ◽

Hazardous Materials Transportation ◽

Numerical Example ◽

Policy Tool

For hazardous materials transportation network, we investigate toll setting as a policy tool to regulate the use of roads for shipments. We propose a bi-level programming as well as the corresponding actual description for the hazardous materials toll problem. Considering the interaction between ordinary vehicles (OV) and hazardous materials vehicles (HMV), the model describes the actual scene accurately, taking account of fairness for ordinary vehicles. Using a numerical example, the comparative analysis of risk and cost shows that toll policies can be very effective.

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A Path Based Algorithm for Solve the Hazardous Materials Transportation Bilevel Problem

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.253-255.1082 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 253-255 ◽

pp. 1082-1088

Author(s):

José Fernando Camacho Vallejo ◽

Rafael Muñoz Sánchez

Keyword(s):

Mathematical Program ◽

Transportation Network ◽

Shortest Paths ◽

Hazardous Materials ◽

Upper Bounds ◽

Government Agency ◽

Population Exposure ◽

Hazardous Materials Transportation ◽

Total Cost ◽

Upper Level

In this work we consider the problem of determining a set of optimal tolls on the arcs of a multicommodity transportation network. The problem is formulated as a bilevel mathematical program where the upper level consists in a government agency that regulate the traffic of the dangerous materials by imposing tolls on arcs of the network trying to minimize the risk for the population in the case when an accident occurs to the carriers, while the lower level is represented by a group of carriers traveling on shortest paths with respect to a generalized travel cost. So, the problem can be seen in a simplistic form as find the equilibrium between tolls that minimize the population exposure to the risk and tolls that are convenient for the shippers. The paper applies a path based algorithm to solve a bi-level multi-commodity optimal toll setting ‘hazmat’ problem. The algorithm consists in find upper bounds for the tolls considering the total cost and the risk associated to a particular path. We made several experiments and the results are shown in this work.

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