Metaheuristic, Models and Software for the Heterogeneous Fleet Pickup and Delivery Problem with Split Loads

This paper addresses a rich variant of the vehicle routing problem (VRP) that involves pickup and delivery activities, customer time windows, heterogeneous fleet, multiple products and the possibility of splitting a customer demand among several routes. This variant generalizes traditional VRP variants by incorporating features that are commonly found in practice. We present two mixed-integer … Read more

Joint Routing of Conventional and Range-Extended Electric Vehicles in a Large Metropolitan Network

Range-extended electric vehicles combine the higher efficiency and environmental benefits of battery-powered electric motors with the longer mileage and autonomy of conventional internal combustion engines. This combination is particularly advantageous for time-constrained delivery routing in dense urban areas, where battery recharging along routes can be too time-consuming to economically justify the use of all-electric vehicles. … Read more

Hub Network Design Problem with Capacity, Congestion and Stochastic Demand Considerations

We introduce the hub network design problem with congestion, capacity, and stochastic demand considerations (HNDC), which generalizes the classical hub location problem in several directions. In particular, we extend state-of-the-art by integrating capacity acquisition decision and congestion cost effect into the problem and allowing dynamic routing for origin-destination pairs. Connecting strategic and operational level decisions, … Read more

Mean-Covariance Robust Risk Measurement

We introduce a universal framework for mean-covariance robust risk measurement and portfolio optimization. We model uncertainty in terms of the Gelbrich distance on the mean-covariance space, along with prior structural information about the population distribution. Our approach is related to the theory of optimal transport and exhibits superior statistical and computational properties than existing models. … Read more

A covering decomposition algorithm for power grid cyber-network segmentation

We present a trilevel interdiction model for optimally segmenting the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) network controlling an electric power grid. In this formulation, we decide how to partition nodes of the SCADA network in order to minimize the shedding of load from a worst-case cyberattack, assuming that the grid operator has the opportunity … Read more

Risk-averse Regret Minimization in Multi-stage Stochastic Programs

Within the context of optimization under uncertainty, a well-known alternative to minimizing expected value or the worst-case scenario consists in minimizing regret. In a multi-stage stochastic programming setting with a discrete probability distribution, we explore the idea of risk-averse regret minimization, where the benchmark policy can only benefit from foreseeing Delta steps into the future. … Read more

Multiple-Periods Locally-Facet-Based MIP Formulations for the Unit Commitment Problem

The thermal unit commitment (UC) problem has historically been formulated as a mixed integer quadratic programming (MIQP), which is difficult to solve efficiently, especially for large-scale systems. The tighter characteristic reduces the search space, therefore, as a natural consequence, significantly reduces the computational burden. In literatures, many tightened formulations for a single unit with parts … Read more

The Value of Robust Assortment Optimization Under Ranking-based Choice Models

We study a class of robust assortment optimization problems that was proposed by Farias, Jagabathula, and Shah (2013). The goal in these problems is to find an assortment that maximizes a firm’s worst-case expected revenue under all ranking-based choice models that are consistent with the historical sales data generated by the firm’s past assortments. We … Read more

Robust Concave Utility Maximization over Chance Constraints

This paper first studies an expected utility problem with chance constraints and incomplete information on a decision maker’s utility function. The model maximizes the worst-case expected utility of random outcome over a set of concave functions within a novel ambiguity set, while the underlying probability distribution is known. To obtain computationally tractable formulations, we employ … Read more

Some Strongly Polynomially Solvable Convex Quadratic Programs with Bounded Variables

This paper begins with a class of convex quadratic programs (QPs) with bounded variables solvable by the parametric principal pivoting algorithm with $\mbox{O}(n^3)$ strongly polynomial complexity, where $n$ is the number of variables of the problem. Extension of the Hessian class is also discussed. Our research is motivated by a recent reference [7] wherein the … Read more