A proposed approach is specialized for large scale vehicle routing problems(VRPs) and based on area segmentation and gradual area integration mechanisms so as to avoid combinatorial explosion. The purpose of the proposed approach is to deconstruct large scale problem into small size sub-problems and gradually restore these to original state. Firstly, an original large scale problem is divided into some small sub-areas and optimal solutions in each sub-area are derived. When a best incumbent solution remains unchanged for a certain period, subareas are gradually integrated and new optimal solutions in a new integrated sub-area are newly searched through use of the obtained solutions in previous sub area. This gradual integration and optimization are iterated until every sub-area are integrated into the one (the original problem), and the optimal solution of original problem can be obtained at this time. The proposed approach aims to deconstruct large scale problem into small size sub-problems and perform more efficient search. Through some typical test problems, it was demonstrated that our approach could derive better results more effectively than conventional approach.
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