Affiliation:
1. Instituto Tecnológico de Saltillo, Mexico
Abstract
In this chapter, a new multi-phases meta-heuristic algorithm based on Simulated Annealing(SA) is proposed in order to solve the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) with stochastic demands. This algorithm is named Multi-Phases Simulated Annealing (MPSA), which has four phases of annealing, which are Fast Quenching Phase (FQP), the Annealing Boltzmann Phase (ABP), the Bose-Einstein Annealing Phase (BEAP), and the Dynamical Equilibrium Phase (DEP). These four phases are applied in different ranges of temperature in the Simulated Annealing. The proposed algorithm is applied to generate very close to optimal solution for a cleaning distribution company. Proposed approach is focused to the Vehicle Routing Problem with homogeneous capacities and stochastic demands to gain solutions where routes are the most economical, so based on this, the proposed algorithm is applied to solve the limited Capacity Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP), trying to provide more effective and efficient metaheuristics.