Time-dependent asymmetric traveling salesman problem with time windows: Properties and an exact algorithm

摘要

In this paper, we deal with the Time-Dependent Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problem with Time Windows. First, we prove that under special conditions the problem can be solved as an Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problem with Time Windows, with suitable-defined time windows and (constant) travel times. Second, we show that, if the special conditions do not hold, the time-independent optimal solution provides both a lower bound and (eventually) an upper bound with a worst-case guarantee for the Time-Dependent Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problem with Time Windows. Finally, a branch-and-bound algorithm is presented and tested on a set of 4800 instances. The results have been compared with those obtained by the only existing exact procedure capable of solving this problem. The new procedure has been able to find a higher number of optimal solutions in this set of instances. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.