Route Optimization for Hazardous Chemicals Transportation under Time-Varying Conditions

Abstract

Since accidents of hazardous chemicals transportation will cause serious loss to the surrounding environment and lives and properties, this paper studies the transportation route optimization problem of hazardous chemicals under dynamic time-varying conditions. Combined with the goal of green sustainable development, a multiobjective nonlinear optimization model is constructed to minimize the transportation risk, transportation cost, and carbon emissions generated in the transportation. The model is solved by the improved Fast Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm with Elite Strategy (NSGA-II) algorithm. The effectiveness of the model and the algorithm are tested on the Sioux Falls network. The experimental results show that under time-varying conditions, a vehicle’s departure at different times will generate different transportation costs and risks. Therefore, enterprises need to rationally arrange the departure time of vehicles according to the time windows of customer nodes and road conditions. In additio, from the relationship between the optimization objectives, in order to achieve green, sustainable and low-risk transportation, enterprises should first reduce their transportation costs.