Ant Colony Algorithm for Waste Collection Vehicle Arc Routing Problem with Turn Constraints

Abstract

A Waste Collection Arc Vehicle Routing Problem with turn constraints (WCAVRPTC) model is proposed to minimize the length of municipal solid waste (MSW) collection routes, which presents several characteristics derived from traffic regulations: some streets can be traversed crossed in only one direction, and some turns should be forbidden when the common angle is too narrow. The problem is transformed into a node routing ones and a clustering-based multiple ant colony system algorithm is described to address it. This algorithm possesses a set of new strategies to construct solutions, including clustering-based strategy, improved global pheromone update rule. The methodology is also applied to the urban waste collection problem in Shuangnan. The results of optimization indicate that the length of saving routes is 89984.96m and 92330.04m respectively with or without turns constrains constraints, which decreased by 31.1% and 31.9% respectively.