A farthest insertion heuristic algorithm for the distance-constrained capacitated vehicle routing problem

Abstract

The vehicle routing problem (YRP) under distance and capacity constraints involves the design of a set of delivery routes which originate and terminate at a central depot after satisfying the customer demands . Each customer must be served exactly once and by one vehicle, where vehicle capacity and distance limit become the constraints of the problem. In this study of Distance-Constrained Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (DCYRP), farthest insertion method is used to construct an initial solution. The method focuses on choosing the farthest customer from the route and then inserts the selected customer into the nearest path which will give the smallest increment of length without violating the distance and capacity constraints. C++ numerical programming is used to code the approach algorithm in order to solve DCYRP which involves large groups of data . Three categorie s of data which are cluster, random and random cluster data are being analyzed by considering different amount of distance and capacity constraints. By utilizing the farthest insert ion method , the number of routes participated and the total distance travelled by the vehicles can be obtained. Based on the computational results acquired, the increasing of the amount of capacity and distance constraints will reduce the number of routes formed as well as the total distance travelled.