Research on Route Optimization of Hazardous Materials Transportation Considering Risk Equity

Abstract

The consequences of a hazmat accident can be catastrophic due to the characteristics of hazardous materials. Different from the models, which are constructed from the perspective of “government-carrier”, this paper considers the three objectives of the risk, the cost, and the compensation cost from the “government-carrier-public” perspective, so as to construct a route optimization model of hazmat transportation considering risk equity. Moreover, considering that the difference in regional emergency response time will significantly affect the risk, this research incorporates the emergency response time into the transportation risk assessment function, and realizes risk equity by minimizing the total compensation cost based on the difference in regional emergency response time. To solve the proposed model, a multi-objective genetic algorithm based on linear weighting is designed. The results obtained from the case study verify the necessity of considering the risk equity in the route optimization model of hazardous materials transportation and prove that the established model and algorithm can find an optimal route that meets the expectations of the government, the carrier, and the public.