University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Disaster relief vehicle routing with volunteer coverage

Hoevener, Thomas

Content Files
HOEVENER-THESIS-2024.pdf

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124346

Description

Title
Disaster relief vehicle routing with volunteer coverage
Author(s)
Hoevener, Thomas
Issue Date
2024-04-30
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Vogiatzis, Chrysafis
Department of Study
Industrial&Enterprise Sys Eng
Discipline
Industrial Engineering
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Keyword(s)
  • Disaster Relief Operations
  • Vehicle Routing Problem
  • Volunteers
Abstract
In disaster relief operations, modelers typically adopt a pessimistic approach, where we optimize for the worst-case scenario. In reality, there is a chance for human compassion and support which we can incorporate in the operations: specifically, we often see volunteers who are willing to offer their help and services. In this work, we present a series of vehicle routing problems exploiting this notion of volunteers who are able to optionally provide aid to surrounding areas. We incorporate human volunteers into our problems and determine the optimal routing scheme within a network to minimize time and cost while meeting the demands of the locations. We develop a novel model based on the Miller-Tucker-Zemlin constraints, which introduces the concept of optional demands for the benefit of supporting the aid effort in an area. We reintroduce fundamental problems in vehicle routing now with a more realistic (and optimistic) component. We present computational results showcasing how volunteers may dramatically reduce the response times of the affected areas. We also present a sensitivity analysis over varying levels of volunteer availability, ability to reach farther areas (volunteer radius), and robustness of transportation infrastructure.
Graduation Semester
2024-05
Type of Resource
Thesis
Handle URL
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124346
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2024 Thomas Hoevener

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