Emergency Logistics Planning in Natural Disasters

Logistics planning in emergency situations involves dispatching commodities (e.g., medical materials and personnel, specialised rescue equipment and rescue teams, food, etc.) to distribution centres in affected areas as soon as possible so that relief operations are accelerated. In this study, a planning model that is to be integrated into a natural disaster logistics Decision Support System is developed. The model addresses the dynamic time-dependent transportation problem that needs to be solved repetitively at given time intervals during ongoing aid delivery. The model regenerates plans incorporating new requests for aid materials, new supplies and transportation means that become available during the current planning time horizon. The plan indicates the optimal mixed pick up and delivery schedules for vehicles within the considered planning time horizon as well as the optimal quantities and types of loads picked up and delivered on these routes. In emergency logistics context, supply is available in limited quantities at the current time period and on specified future dates. Commodity demand is known with certainty at the current date, but can be forecasted for future dates. Unlike commercial environments, vehicles do not have to return to depots, because the next time the plan is re-generated, a node receiving commodities may become a depot or a former depot may have no supplies at all. As a result, there are no closed loop tours, and vehicles wait at their last stop until they receive the next order from the logistics coordination centre. Hence, dispatch orders for vehicles consist of sets of “broken” routes that are generated in response to time-dependent supply/demand. The mathematical model describes a setting that is considerably different than the conventional vehicle routing problem. In fact, the problem is a hybrid that integrates the multi-commodity network flow problem and the vehicle routing problem. In this setting, vehicles are also treated as commodities. The model is readily decomposed into two multi-commodity network flow problems, the first one being linear (for conventional commodities) and the second integer (for vehicle flows). In the solution approach, these sub-models are coupled with relaxed arc capacity constraints using Lagrangean relaxation. The convergence of the proposed algorithm is tested on small test instances as well as on an earthquake scenario of realistic size.     

Emergency response in natural disaster management: Allocation and scheduling of rescue units

Natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes, cause tremendous harm each year. In order to reduce casualties and economic losses during the response phase, rescue units must be allocated and scheduled efficiently. As this problem is one of the key issues in emergency response and has been addressed only rarely in literature, this paper develops a corresponding decision support model that minimizes the sum of completion times of incidents weighted by their severity. The presented problem is a generalization of the parallel-machine scheduling problem with unrelated machines, non-batch sequence-dependent setup times and a weighted sum of completion times – thus, it is NP-hard. Using literature on scheduling and routing, we propose and computationally compare several heuristics, including a Monte Carlo-based heuristic, the joint application of 8 construction heuristics and 5 improvement heuristics, and GRASP metaheuristics. Our results show that problem instances (with up to 40 incidents and 40 rescue units) can be solved in less than a second, with results being at most 10.9% up to 33.9% higher than optimal values. Compared to current best practice solutions, the overall harm can be reduced by up to 81.8%.     

基于不确定需求的灾后应急救灾网络规划模型与算法

突发事件发生后,快速应急响应的第一步是启动应急救灾网络,合理配置应急救灾资源,以保证救灾过程顺利进行,提高救援效率。本文以台风灾害为背景,建立二阶段应急救灾网络的混合整数规划模型,解决台风灾害的灾后应急救灾网络的规划与设计问题。在求解模型时,考虑需求信息的分布难以确定,并且在一定范围内变动的特点,利用鲁棒优化的方法处理不确定性需求,从而得到合理的临时救灾中心选址以及应急资源配置信息。数值试验表明,建立的模型是实际可行的,而且算法也是有效的。     

突发事件应急医疗物资调度的随机算法

传统的车辆路径问题(VRP)是为车辆设计将物资从仓库运送到各个需求客户的路线,使得总的运输费用(或时间)最小。在本文中,我们更关心的是使得未满足的需求量和总的物资延误时间最小。这个模型的一个非常重要的应用就是当大规模突发事件发生以后如何有效的将应急医疗物资运送到各个医疗单位,例如自然灾难,恐怖袭击之后,各个医院的医疗物资有限,需要从应急中心调集所需物资,在这种情况下,从应急中心分发应急物资过程中的运输费用就不再是最主要的考查因素,而更重要的是考虑物资到达医院的时间以及到达量,因为这两个因素直接与病人生命息息相关。本文的主要工作是改进了已有的局部搜索算法,通过引入随机算法的思想设计了求解模型的改进随机算法,可以得到模型更优的解,并通过计算机模拟案例说明了算法是行之有效的。     

场馆人员疏散的元胞自动机模拟

在人口密集场所(馆)观众席位区及疏散通道分布模拟图的基础上,应用数据库技术结合元胞自动机模拟了场馆中人员的疏散情况,并针对场馆发生突发事件后,在疏散过程中某个出口堵塞的情形进行了模拟,模拟结果可以记录人员疏散的轨迹,为突发事件发生后人员疏散应急方案提供参考.     

Assessing systems for offshore emergency evacuation

Emergency evacuation is a rare event in the offshore oil industry. Nonetheless, emergency procedures must be practiced routinely for the benefit of the work force and the emergency services. These practices typically take place in good weather conditions where there is little threat to those involved. However, in reality an emergency could occur in adverse weather conditions which can affect the capabilities of vessels and helicopters. This paper describes a study in which the data from various sources are synthesised in order to estimate the effectiveness of emergency evacuation and rescue systems in a stochastic environment. The study employed a discrete event simulation incorporating a model of the evacuation and rescue operations interfaced with a file of weather data. This approach provided a measure, the probability of completing the evacuation within N hours, for the comparison of alternative systems.     

基于两阶段混合整数规划模型的洪涝灾害应急管理研究

本文以洪涝自然灾害为现实背景, 考虑多种应急物资、灾情的不确定性和应急救灾的多目标性, 集成优化灾前准备和灾后响应两阶段, 建立了一定最大救援时间下的两阶段多目标混合整数规划模型。模型的目标一是使得不同灾害情景下灾后响应阶段总物资不足惩罚和延误损失的期望最小, 目标二是使得灾前准备阶段应急物资存储点建造成本、物资存储成本及灾后响应阶段物资分配成本之和最小。该模型保证了应急救灾的及时有效以及物资的公平分配。本文设计了一种多目标遗传算法用于模型求解, 结合具体算例, 得到了模型在最大救援时间为4到9区间内任意数值下的pareto最优解, 很好地适应了决策者不同的决策需求, 并根据pareto应急方案的数目, 灾后响应阶段成本期望和两阶段总成本等模型的三个关键产出随最大救援时间的变化趋势, 得出最优的最大救援时间为5.7。     

基于社会网络视角的突发灾害应急响应合作者关系网络分析——以“6·24”叠溪滑坡灾害为例

突发灾害应急管理实践表明,响应主体间的合作关系网络可靠性将影响应急响应的效率。本文以“6.24”新磨滑坡作为研究案例,采用文献分析、访谈、关系挖掘等研究方法构建灾害响应过程中主体间的合作者关系网络,重点从社会网络视角对该合作者关系的网络韧性进行量化分析,并对比随机生成的合作网络以及国外类似案例。研究发现,应急响应网络中的关键行动主体履行了救灾响应所要求的责任角色;在应急救援的效率方面,我国的应急救援体制具有制度优越性;指挥部等关键行动者会影响整个合作网络的效率和韧性。因此,在灾后应急救援时需进一步提升整体网络成员中协同救灾的水平,以在救援效率和效果上取得实效。     

Evacuation planning using multiobjective evolutionary optimization approach

In an emergency situation, evacuation is conducted in order to displace people from a dangerous place to a safer place, and it usually needs to be done in a hurry. It is necessary to prepare evacuation plans in order to have a good response in an emergency situation. A central challenge in developing an evacuation plan is in determining the distribution of evacuees into the safe areas, that is, deciding where and from which road each evacuee should go. To achieve this aim, several objective functions should be brought into consideration and need to be satisfied simultaneously, though these objective functions may often conflict with each other.     

多目标应急物流中心选址的鲁棒优化模型

针对重大突发事件的应急物资救援,研究了应急物流中心的选址及应急物资的调运问题。利用离散的情景集合描述受灾点应急物资需求的不确定性以及应急物资运输成本和运输时间的不确定性,同时考虑应急救援成本和应急救援时间两个目标,建立了多目标应急物流中心选址的确定型模型和鲁棒优化模型。为将多目标问题转化为单目标问题,利用成本单目标和时间单目标的最优结果将多目标转化为相对值再加权处理,该方法既可消除多个目标之间的单位及数量级差异,还可以根据问题的数据变化进行动态调整。以提供应急物资救援服务的设施作为编码,设计了一种通用的混合蛙跳算法。为检验模型和算法的有效性,设计了一个多情景的算例,结果表明两个模型和算法具备良好的可行性和有效性,且鲁棒优化模型能较好地保持对各种不确定性的抗干扰能力;最后,讨论分析了成本偏好权重和鲁棒约束系数的影响,结果表明可根据成本偏好权重的取值范围来区分各种应急救援阶段,体现不同救援阶段的救援要求及特征,并给出了成本偏好权重和鲁棒约束系数的取值建议。     

带有配额的在线Nomadic旅行商问题

由于自然灾害的频繁发生,灾后的应急物资车辆调度受到了社会的广泛重视,而应急车辆尽快地将应急物资送到受灾点显得尤为重要。针对应急车辆装载物资能力有限和应急车辆不必返回出发点的情形,提出了带有配额的在线Nomadic旅行商问题。分析了该问题在正半轴和一般网络上的下界,针对受灾点仅在正半轴上的情形设计了WTAIB算法,针对受灾点在一般网络上设计了WSB算法,并进一步分析了两个算法的竞争性能。     

随机需求应急物流多阶段定位-路径鲁棒优化研究

为提高应急物流系统的应急反应能力,论文针对需求随机变化的应急物流定位-路径问题,利用鲁棒优化的思想将灾区物资需求量表示为区间型数据,将应急救援过程划分为多个阶段,以总救援时间和系统总成本最小为目标,构建了多物资多运输车辆应急物流定位-路径优化模型,设计了改进的遗传算法对其进行求解。实例计算结果表明,该模型和算法可以有效地解决应急物流系统中需求随机变化的定位-路径问题,为政府机构应对重大突发事件提供科学的决策参考。     

城市突发事件中基于事故演变的救援需求决策模型及其优化求解

针对城市突发事件中待救点对应急救援物资的需求状态随着事故的演变而发生变化的情况,将待救点对应急救援物质的需求设计成马尔可夫决策过程,并提出一种动态的物资调配策略,构建救援物资需求决策模型,然后通过花朵授粉算法进行优化求解。某市突发地震应急物资调配实例证明,本文方法能够给出合理的救援需求满足策略,使得待救点对物资的需求更低,需求变化更加平稳。花朵授粉算法对模型求解的效果相比粒子群算法和萤火虫算法有更快的收敛速度和更优的求解结果。     

Centrality-based ambulance dispatching for demanding emergency situations

One category of dispatching decisions in emergency medical service involves the selection of an ambulance among idle units when a call is received (call-initiated), and another involves the selection of a call among those waiting when a unit gets freed (ambulance-initiated). This research focuses on the ambulance-initiated dispatching and aims at developing a rule that can be flexibly used in various contexts characterized by the probability of transferring the patient to hospital. The idea behind this rule is to give a higher priority to the call that is more centrally located with respect to other calls. When the centrality along with the closeness is used to prioritize calls, the units would smoothly proceed towards dense regions while efficiently exploiting calls, thereby keeping the completion rate at maximum. This centrality-based dispatching rule is tested in various scenarios and demonstrates considerable reductions in both average and variation of response time.     

Decision support for hospital evacuation and emergency response

Evacuation planning is an important part of a hospital’s emergency management plan. In an evacuation the safety and health of patients is the fundamental success parameter. Thus, in this paper we introduce an evacuation model, appropriate for planning and operations, that has the objective of minimizing expected risk, both the threat risk that is forcing the evacuation, and the risk inherent in transporting patients, some in critical condition. Specifically, we study the allocation of patients, categorized by criticality and care requirements, to a limited fleet of vehicles of various capacities and medical capabilities, to be transported to appropriate receiving hospitals considering the current available space in each hospital for each category of patient. The model is an integer program, where the non-linear expected risks are calculated a-priori. This model has a structure that has excellent solution characteristics that permit us to solve large problems in a reasonable time, enabling the model to potentially be used for both planning and operations. To illustrate the solvability of this model and demonstrate its characteristics, we apply it to a realistic case study based on the evacuation of a large regional hospital.     

资源受限下森林火灾应急救援多目标调度优化

许多森林火灾由于救援资源受限而不能在第一时间扑灭,导致火灾扩大蔓延,进而造成更大的森林资源损失。因此,在救援资源受限情形下,如何对消防救援车辆进行合理的调度安排以快速和低成本地扑灭火灾已成为亟待解决的现实问题。本文研究了一类资源受限下森林火灾应急救援多目标调度优化问题,为该问题构建了多目标混合整数非线性规划模型,优化目标为同时最小化总灭火救援时间和救援车辆总行驶距离。为有效求解该问题,首先将上述非线性模型等价转化为线性模型。然后提出ε-约束法和模糊逻辑相结合的算法对问题进行求解。最后,以大兴安岭山发生的火灾案例和随机生成仿真算例对模型和算法有效性进行验证,结果表明所提出的模型和算法能够有效解决资源受限下森林火灾应急救援问题,并为决策者提供最优的消防调度方案。     

Pattern-based evacuation planning for urban areas

The population of an urban area may be in danger due to disasters like floods, hurricanes, chemical or nuclear accidents. This requires decisions to protect the affected population. One decision may be to evacuate the affected area. For the exceptional case of an evacuation an approach to reorganize the traffic routing of the endangered area is developed. In this paper a two-stage heuristic solution approach for a pattern-based mixed integer dynamic network flow model is presented. The model restructures the traffic routing such that the evacuees leave the evacuation area as safe as possible and as early as possible within the considered time horizon.     

自然灾害应急能力评估模型设计——基于河北滦县地区的案例研究

如何量化自然灾害应急能力评价指标一直是地方政府完善应急体系的主要难点.按照国际应急能力评价原则,构建了一套应急能力评价指标体系,并采用模糊层次分析法(FAHP)确定各层次指标权重,采用专家模糊打分法建立评价指标集,并通过对模糊评价进行赋值,最后通过计算得到被评价地区的自然灾害应急能力水平.实例说明了河北省滦县自然灾害应急能力评价的具体过程,研究结果表明,该评估方法是地方政府自然灾害应急能力评估的有效工具.     

基于资源约束的突发事件应急救援鲁棒性调度优化

突发事件应急救援的调度优化,对于救援活动的顺利实施及应急资源的有效使用具有至关重要的作用。本文研究资源约束下的突发事件应急救援鲁棒性调度优化问题,其中,鲁棒性定义为各活动的时间缓冲与其权重系数乘积的总和,目标是在资源可用量及救援期限的约束下,安排活动开始时间和执行模式以最大化应急救援计划的鲁棒性。作者构建了问题的0-1规划优化模型,针对其NP-hard属性,基于问题特征设计双环路禁忌搜索启发式算法。通过对一个算例的计算分析,得到如下结论:给定网络结构及时间参数,利用权重系数的定义可以将时间缓冲分配到重要活动上,由此提高应急救援计划的鲁棒性;随着资源可用量的增加,计划的鲁棒性呈上升趋势,而当救援期限延长时,计划的鲁棒性单调增加。本文研究可为突发事件应急救援基准计划的制定提供决策支持。     

Infrastructure security games

Infrastructure security against possible attacks involves making decisions under uncertainty. This paper presents game theoretic models of the interaction between an adversary and a first responder in order to study the problem of security within a transportation infrastructure. The risk measure used is based on the consequence of an attack in terms of the number of people affected or the occupancy level of a critical infrastructure, e.g. stations, trains, subway cars, escalators, bridges, etc. The objective of the adversary is to inflict the maximum damage to a transportation network by selecting a set of nodes to attack, while the first responder (emergency management center) allocates resources (emergency personnel or personnel-hours) to the sites of interest in an attempt to find the hidden adversary. This paper considers both static and dynamic, in which the first responder is mobile, games. The unique equilibrium strategy pair is given in closed form for the simple static game. For the dynamic game, the equilibrium for the first responder becomes the best patrol policy within the infrastructure. This model uses partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) in which the payoff functions depend on an exogenous people flow, and thus, are time varying. A numerical example illustrating the algorithm is presented to evaluate an equilibrium strategy pair.