The bilevel programming model of earthwork allocation system

Abstract

The earthwork allocation which is common in construction projects and directly affects the quality, costs and scheduling of projects is a transportation problem with hierarchical structure. Linear programming (LP) model cannot clearly reflect the characteristics of the system. Considering Bilevel Programming (BLP) is the one of useful tools for solving the problem with this structure, in this paper, the BLP model of earthwork allocation is established. The objective of upper level is that of minimizing the transportation cost. And the objective of lower level is to balance the supply and demand of earthwork in the excavation and embankment activities. In addition, a hybrid particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed to solve the model by combining the method of particle swarm optimization (PSO) with simplex algorithm. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.