چکیده (انگلیسی):

This study extends the capability and increases the performance
of a traditional Branch and Bound (BB) algorithm to solve Facility
Location-Transportation problems for Disaster Response (FLTDR) using
parallel computing. A Two-Stage Branch and Bound (TBB) algorithm was
developed to support two parallel computing approaches. This algorithm
divides problems into two small sub-problems, which are a facility location
sub-problem and a transportation sub-problem. All possible numbers of
distribution centers are determined. All possible locations relating to any
number of distribution centers are explicitly explored. The transportation
sub-problem corresponding to any selected location is then solved. Two
parallel approaches for the TBB algorithm (PTBB) differ in partitioning the
list of sub-problems. The first approach (PTBB1) solves both sub-problems
in parallel. The other (PTBB2) explores the locations in sequence and
solves only the transportation sub-problems in parallel. The numerical
experiments were conducted on various sizes of generated problems. The
quality of the solution and the computing time of both approaches were
compared with a BB algorithm with premature termination by time. The
experimental experiences showed that both PTBB1 and PTBB2 are more
efficient and effective than a BB algorithm. However, the PTBB1 should be
suggested for the FLTDR because of the least computational time usage.