Solving the shortest route cut and fill problem using simulated annealing

This paper introduces the shortest route cut and fill problem (SRCFP). The SRCFP is a NP-hard discrete optimization problem for leveling a construction project site, where the objective is to find it vehicle route that minimizes the total distance traveled by a single earthmoving vehicle between cut and fill locations. An optimal vehicle route is a route that minimizes the total haul distance that a single earthmoving vehicle travels. Simulated annealing algorithms are formulated to address the SRCFP. To assess the effectiveness of simulated annealing on the SRCFP. it greedy algorithm is constructed to compute an upper bound and the Held-Karp 1-tree lower bound is used to compute a lower bound. Extensive computational results are reported using several randomly generated instances of the SRCFP. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.