Truck-and-Trailer Distribution Based on a Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithm

Abstract

A simple DTT is a problem to design a hybrid trucking route for single and double trailers as a new version of the routing problem using sub-tours for servicing truck customers. The local optimization approach, 2-opt, is employed to optimize the route. An 0/1 integer linear programming model is built to segment the route that visits all customers, and choose a sub-tours combination that minimizes the incremental cost of the sub-tours. A hybrid evolutionary algorithm is built upon them to search for an optimal hybrid route. Numerical samples are provided to show the features of the DTT problem. The performance of the sub-tours combination optimization model and the evolution of the fitness of the algorithm with or without 2-opt are studied by simulation. The results demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach.