Optimal Procedures for Minimizing Commodity Distribution Costsin Networks with Conditional Arc Lower Bound Bounds

摘要

Distribution companies often must decide to which which degree h it is economical to use all available distribution channelsin a large network. These channels may be pipelines for oil or natural gas, physical routes for v vehicles withehicles specialized containers, data transmission lines lines, investment possibilities in distribution facilities, etc. Th The proposede non non-linear generalized generalized-network methodology minimizes total product distribution costs given specified demands, anoperation cost per unit of commodity for each channel, as well as upper and lower bounds on the pr product flowoduct allowed on each channel. The distinctive feature of the network model is the assumption that the lower bounds areconditional conditional, that is, only enforced when economically effective (lower costs). Otherwise, the channel is closed.