Solving the nonlinear transportation problem by global optimization

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present the suitability of three different global optimization methods for specifically the exact optimum solution of the nonlinear transportation problem (NTP). The evaluated global optimization methods include the branch and reduce method, the branch and cut method and the combination of global and local search strategies. The considered global optimization methods were applied to solve NTPs with reference to literature. NTPs were formulated as nonlinear programming (NLP) optimization problems. The obtained optimal results were compared with those got from literature. A comparative evaluation of global optimization methods is presented at the end of the paper to show their suitability for solving NTPs.

First published online: 10 Feb 2011