Weight distribution considerations in container loading

A major drawback of the current literature on container loading is the lack of consideration of many practical issues. The weight distribution of the cargo is one such aspect which has been largely ignored. The paper considers post-processing approaches to tackle this problem. A new container loading heuristic is put forward in this context and is evaluated against several existing approaches. It is demonstrated that the procedure proposed is capable of producing loading arrangements which combine high space utilisation with an even weight distribution of the cargo.     

海浪、地震对于轴对称海工建筑物的作用

当今海洋工程中广泛采用各种竖直轴对称结构,诸如贮油罐、采油平台等等。本文论述一种计算上述结构物与其周围的海洋相互作用的极其有效的计算方法,着重讨论如下几个问题的数值计算:1.作用在固定建筑物上的波浪荷载和爬高;2.作用在浮式建筑物上的附加质量、阻尼系数以及激荡力(扰动力);3.因地震荷载作用而产生的基面剪切力和转动力矩;4.浮式建筑物在波浪作用下的运动状态。本文所述方法是一种以轴对称格林函数为基础的边界单元法,并利用结构物本身的轴对称性提出了适用于小型计算机上进行快速有效计算的计算程序。最后,作者给出了不同荷载对于伸出水面的截圆锥式建筑物的作用的计算结果。     

Solving the pickup and delivery problem with three-dimensional loading constraints and reloading ban

In this paper, we extend the classical Pickup and Delivery Problem (PDP) to an integrated routing and three-dimensional loading problem, called PDP with three-dimensional loading constraints (3L-PDP). We are given a set of requests and a homogeneous fleet of vehicles. A set of routes of minimum total length has to be determined such that each request is transported from a loading site to the corresponding unloading site. In the 3L-PDP, each request is given as set of rectangular boxes and the vehicle capacity is replaced by a 3D loading space.This paper is the second one in a series of articles on 3L-PDP. As in the first paper we are dealing with constraints which guarantee that no reloading effort will occur. Here the focus is laid on the reloading ban, a packing constraint that ensures identical placements of same boxes in different packing plans. The reloading ban allows for better solutions in terms of travel distance than a routing constraint that was used in the first paper to preclude any reloading effort. To implement this packing constraint a new type of packing procedure is needed that is capable to generate a series of interrelated packing plans per route. This packing procedure, designed as tree search algorithm, and the corresponding concept of packing checks is the main contribution of the paper at hand. The packing procedure and a large neighborhood search procedure for routing form a hybrid algorithm for the 3L-PDP. Computational experiments were performed using 54 3L-PDP benchmark instances.     

Sparse principal component analysis subject to prespecified cardinality of loadings

Most of the existing procedures for sparse principal component analysis (PCA) use a penalty function to obtain a sparse matrix of weights by which a data matrix is post-multiplied to produce PC scores. In this paper, we propose a new sparse PCA procedure which differs from the existing ones in two ways. First, the new procedure does not sparsify the weight matrix. Instead, the so-called loadings matrix is sparsified by which the score matrix is post-multiplied to approximate the data matrix. Second, the cardinality of the loading matrix i.e., the total number of nonzero loadings, is pre-specified to be an integer without using penalty functions. The procedure is called unpenalized sparse loading PCA (USLPCA). A desirable property of USLPCA is that the indices for the percentages of explained variances can be defined in the same form as in the standard PCA. We develop an alternate least squares algorithm for USLPCA which uses the fact that the PCA loss function can be decomposed as a sum of a term irrelevant to the loadings, and another one being easily minimized under cardinality constraints. A procedure is also presented for selecting the best cardinality using information criteria. The procedures are assessed in a simulation study and illustrated with real data examples.     

Finished-vehicle transporter routing problem solved by loading pattern discovery

This work addresses a new transportation problem in outbound logistics in the automobile industry: the finished-vehicle transporter routing problem (FVTRP). The FVTRP is a practical routing problem with loading constraints, and it assumes that dealers have deterministic demands for finished vehicles that have three-dimensional irregular shapes. The problem solution will identify optimal routes while satisfying demands. In terms of complex packing, finished vehicles are not directly loaded into the spaces of transporters; instead, loading patterns matching finished vehicles with transporters are identified first by mining successful loading records through virtual and manual loading test procedures, such that the packing problem is practically solved with the help of a procedure to discover loading patterns. This work proposes a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model for the FVTRP considering loading patterns. As a special class of routing models, the FVTRP is typically difficult to solve within a manageable computing time. Thus, an evolutionary algorithm is designed to solve the FVTRP. Comparisons of the proposed algorithm and a commercial MILP solver demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is more effective in solving medium- and large-scale problems. The proposed scheme for addressing the FVTRP is illustrated with an example and tested with benchmark instances that are derived from well-studied vehicle routing datasets.     

Tool planning models for flexible manufacturing systems

Although the tool loading problem for Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMSs) has been analyzed in the past, the tool planning problem, the basis of tool management, has largely been ignored. In this paper, the interface between tool planning and the FMS loading and routing decisions is analyzed. It is shown that tool policy has a pronounced effect on the flexibility and the planned makespan of an FMS. A tool planning model is developed and integrated into an overall FMS detailed tool loading and part routing procedure. This model while considerably reducing the number of tools required (by 55%) matches the performance of a policy that equips each machine with all tools in terms makespan, routing flexibility, and tool productivity.     

An interactive approach for hierarchical analysis of helicopter logistics in disaster relief operations

This study develops a mathematical model for helicopter mission planning during a disaster relief operation. The decisions inherent in the problem decompose hierarchically into two sub-problems where tactical decisions are made at the top level, and the operational routing and loading decisions are made at the base level. Consistency between the decomposed problems is achieved with an iterative coordination procedure which transfers anticipated information from the base level to improve the top level decisions. The existence of conflicting multiple objectives in this hierarchical structure requires the development of a multi-criteria analysis, and an interactive procedure is designed with the top level decision-maker to assess the preference of alternative non-dominated solutions.     

Deformation of cylindrical composite shells under combined dynamic loading

Conclusions A procedure has been shown for calculating the stress-strain state of cylindrical multilayer shells made from composite materials under the combined action of dynamic axial compression and dynamic external pressure, as well as with different variants of combined loading with static and dynamic forces. An investigation has been made of the effect on the mode of the buckled shell surface of the ratio of the application rate of dynamic loads; ranges of loading rates have been established in which stresses predominate caused either by axial compression or external pressure. It has been shown that, as a result of preliminary static loading, a marked change occurs in the initial imperfections of the shell mode which affects subsequent dynamic buckling. To calculate the time when the first defect occurs and its location in the shell body, a procedure has been devised for layer-by-layer strength analysis employing a tensor-polynomial criterion. It was demonstrated that the level of preliminary static loading noticeably affects the time until the first failure of the layer, not only a reduction of this time being possible with an increase in the static loads, but also an increase in it.We should also point out the work in [10] where it is shown that it is possible to weaken the susceptibility of the shell to initial imperfections when internal pressure is applied.Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, No. 3, pp. 461–473, May–June, 1981.     

Research on the Interfacial Friction in Filled Polymers

A procedure is developed for studying the interfacial friction in filled polymers. The paper presents results of experiments on physical models which represent an elastic matrix contacting with the friction surface. The friction law established experimentally was used to develop computational algorithms describing the processes of cyclic loading and relaxation in filled polymers in the case of permanent contact between the matrix and a hard inclusion and on detachment of the matrix from the inclusion.     

An interactive approach to bicriterion loading of a flexible assembly system

This paper presents integer programming formulations and an interactive solution procedure for a bicriterion loading problem in a flexible assembly system. The system is made up of a set of assembly stations linked with an automated material handling system. In the system, several different product types can be assembled simultaneously. The problem objective is to assign assembly tasks and products to stations with limited working space, so as to balance the station workloads and to minimize station-to-station product transfer time, subject to precedence relations among the tasks for a mix of product types. The solution procedure proposed is based on the weighting method and the interactive search for a set of weights which would produce the most preferred nondominated solution. Numerical examples are included to illustrate possible applications of the interactive approach for various problem formulations proposed.     

A hybrid genetic algorithm for the container loading problem

This paper presents a hybrid genetic algorithm (GA) for the container loading problem with boxes of different sizes and a single container for loading. Generated stowage plans include several vertical layers each containing several boxes. Within the procedure, stowage plans are represented by complex data structures closely related to the problem. To generate offspring, specific genetic operators are used that are based on an integrated greedy heuristic. The process takes several practical constraints into account. Extensive test calculations including procedures from other authors vouch for the good performance of the GA, above all for problems with strongly heterogeneous boxes.     

Transient response of a transversely isotropic multilayered half-space due to a vertical loading

This paper investigates the transient response of a transversely isotropic multilayered half-space under vertical loadings. With the aid of a Laplace–Hankel transform, the global stiffness matrix for a multilayered half-space is acquired by assembling the analytical layer-element of each layer medium. The solutions for the displacements in the time domain are obtained by using the global stiffness matrix equations and a numerical inversion procedure. The accuracy of the proposed method is verified through comparisons with existing solutions for displacements induced by a step and rectangular pulse loading. In addition, selected numerical results for displacements induced by the buried loading are presented to illustrate the effect of transient loading type and material anisotropy on the transient response.     

带裂纹层合板复应力强度分析

本文用经典板理论求得了复合材料层合板的界面应力强度因子.利用裂纹尖端能量释放率和复应力强度因子间的关系,给出最一般的复合材料层合板,在相应外荷载和模型混合参数下的复应力强度因子的一个封闭形式的解.然后提出确定这一模型混合参数的步骤,给出某些层合板的数值结果.并给出在相应外荷载下的小范围接触条件.特别证明了界面韧度曲线的对称性质.最后讨论振荡指数消失后,预计的断裂荷载的精确性.还通过一个实例表明β=0法的有效性和局限性.     

Analysis of contact stresses in structural joints of composite shell with steel banding

Based on the generalized Timoshenko-type shell theory, a numerical-analytical procedure for determining contact stresses from the interaction between a cylindrical composite shell and rigid bandings is proposed. Specific cases of loading and contact interaction (ideal contact through an adhesive interlayer) are considered. The contact problems are reduced to the solution of a Fredholm integral equation of the second-kind. A calculation analysis is performed. Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 109–120, January–February, 2000.     

Sparsest factor analysis for clustering variables: a matrix decomposition approach

We propose a new procedure for sparse factor analysis (FA) such that each variable loads only one common factor. Thus, the loading matrix has a single nonzero element in each row and zeros elsewhere. Such a loading matrix is the sparsest possible for certain number of variables and common factors. For this reason, the proposed method is named sparsest FA (SSFA). It may also be called FA-based variable clustering, since the variables loading the same common factor can be classified into a cluster. In SSFA, all model parts of FA (common factors, their correlations, loadings, unique factors, and unique variances) are treated as fixed unknown parameter matrices and their least squares function is minimized through specific data matrix decomposition. A useful feature of the algorithm is that the matrix of common factor scores is re-parameterized using QR decomposition in order to efficiently estimate factor correlations. A simulation study shows that the proposed procedure can exactly identify the true sparsest models. Real data examples demonstrate the usefulness of the variable clustering performed by SSFA.     

Loading Multiple Pallets

This paper addresses the problem of loading pallets with non-identical items, i.e. what has been called the ‘Distributor's Pallet Packing Problem’. It concentrates on the situation where the consignment to be loaded cannot be accommodated on a single pallet. A greedy procedure for tackling this problem, which is based on a published approach for loading single pallets, is described and evaluated. Also discussed is a series of possible modifications of the basic method, whereby the pallets involved are packed simultaneously. A detailed performance analysis is undertaken. The paper concludes with suggestions for further work in this area.     

任意形状孔口双边裂纹平板的应力强度因子计算

本文采用Muskhclishvili弹性力学的复变函数和边界配位方法对不同形状孔口双边裂纹问题进行了研究,计算了圆孔、椭圆孔、矩形孔、菱形孔等不同形状孔口双边裂纹,以及Ⅰ型和复合型等不同类型断裂试件的应力强度因子,本文方法简单方便,精度较高,与某些已有计算结果的问题比较,本文方法所得的结果是令人满意的.同时,本方法可以应用于不同几何形状和加载条件下的孔口双边裂纹有限大板的计算,是解这一类问题的一致有效方法.     

Energy functionals for microstructured multi-phase materials

For describing the influence of multi-phase materials with microstructure on different length scales as well as the evolution of phase changes under thermomechanical loading, an energetic model is developed. Relying on the incremental formulation of the energetic model, a new solution procedure for the coupled thermomechanical problem is proposed. This model can be applied to describe e.g. the macroscopic response of carbon fibre reinforced carbon. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Modeling and algorithmic development of a staff scheduling problem

The problem of scheduling workers at a hub of a trucking system for the stripping and loading of the trucks and the determination of the optimal number of workers is a difficult problem. The trucks arrive at the facility at different (but known) times and may have their own scheduled departure times. This problem is like a set partitioning problem but with a side constraint pertaining to the dynamic arrival of the trucks. We develop a procedure to solve this problem that is based on the column generation technique, and the solution of a set covering problem to obtain the integer solution. The performance of the procedure is demonstrated by applying it to the real-life data obtained from a trucking company. Its effectiveness is illustrated by comparing it with a lower bound and a well-known heuristic procedure.